1 What: /sys/fs/selinux/disable
2 Date: April 2005 (predates git)
3 KernelVersion: 2.6.12-rc2 (predates git)
4 Contact: selinux@vger.kernel.org
7 The selinuxfs "disable" node allows SELinux to be disabled at runtime
8 prior to a policy being loaded into the kernel. If disabled via this
9 mechanism, SELinux will remain disabled until the system is rebooted.
11 The preferred method of disabling SELinux is via the "selinux=0" boot
12 parameter, but the selinuxfs "disable" node was created to make it
13 easier for systems with primitive bootloaders that did not allow for
14 easy modification of the kernel command line. Unfortunately, allowing
15 for SELinux to be disabled at runtime makes it difficult to secure the
16 kernel's LSM hooks using the "__ro_after_init" feature.
18 Thankfully, the need for the SELinux runtime disable appears to be
19 gone, the default Kconfig configuration disables this selinuxfs node,
20 and only one of the major distributions, Fedora, supports disabling
21 SELinux at runtime. Fedora is in the process of removing the
22 selinuxfs "disable" node and once that is complete we will start the
23 slow process of removing this code from the kernel.
25 More information on /sys/fs/selinux/disable can be found under the
26 CONFIG_SECURITY_SELINUX_DISABLE Kconfig option.