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AUDIT2WHY(8)                          NSA                         AUDIT2WHY(8)

NAME
audit2why - Translates SELinux audit messages into a description of why
the access was denied

SYNOPSIS
audit2why [options] 

OPTIONS
--help Print a short usage message

-p <policyfile>
Specify an alternate policy file.

DESCRIPTION
This utility processes SELinux audit messages from standard  input  and
and reports which component of the policy caused each permission denial
based on the specified policy file if the -p option  was  used  or  the
active policy otherwise.  There are three possible causes: 1) a missing
or disabled TE allow rule, 2) a constraint violation, or 3)  a  missing
role  allow  rule.    In the first case, the TE allow rule may exist in
the  policy  but  may  be  disabled  due  to  boolean  settings.    See
booleans(8).  If the allow rule is not present at all, it can be gener-
ated via audit2allow(1).  In the second case,  a  constraint  is  being
violated; see policy/constraints or policy/mls to identify the particu-
lar constraint.  Typically, this can  be  resolved  by  adding  a  type
attribute  to  the  domain.   In  the third case, a role transition was
attempted but no allow rule existed for the role  pair.   This  can  be
resolved by adding an allow rule for the role pair to the policy.

EXAMPLE
$ /usr/sbin/audit2why < /var/log/audit/audit.log

type=KERNEL msg=audit(1115316408.926:336418): avc:  denied  { getattr } for  path=/home/sds dev=hda5 ino=1175041 scontext=root:secadm_r:secadm_t:s0-s9:c0.c127 tcontext=user_u:object_r:user_home_dir_t:s0 tclass=dir
Was caused by:
Missing or disabled TE allow rule.
Allow rules may exist but be disabled by boolean settings; check boolean settings.
You can see the necessary allow rules by running audit2allow with this audit message as input.

type=KERNEL msg=audit(1115320071.648:606858): avc:  denied  { append } for  name=.bash_history dev=hda5 ino=1175047 scontext=user_u:user_r:user_t:s1-s9:c0.c127 tcontext=user_u:object_r:user_home_t:s0 tclass=file
Was caused by:
Constraint violation.
Check policy/constraints.
Typically, you just need to add a type attribute to the domain to satisfy the constraint.

AUTHOR
This   manual  page  was  written  by  Dan  Walsh  <dwalsh@redhat.com>,
audit2why utility was written by Stephen Smalley <sds@tycho.nsa.gov>.

Security Enhanced Linux            May 2005                       AUDIT2WHY(8)