Security Architecture and Engineering

Sandbox

MacOS App Sandbox

  • Requested permissions are specified at compile time
  • Permissions (and the program) are part of a digitally signed object; system can verify the signature at execution time
  • Fairly simple set of permissions to allow access to certain files
  • App cannot request other files outside of its sandbox directory
  • Programs sold via Apple’s App Store must use sandboxing

mac_sandbox

HTML5 Sandboxing

  • HTML5 allows IFRAMEs to be sandboxed
  • Plugins, applets, etc., are disabled
  • Cookies aren’t shared with the sandbox
  • No pop-ups, new browser windows, etc.

Windows Sandboxing

  • Some apps (e.g., Internet Explorer, Adobe Acrobat Reader) split into trusted/untrusted halves; the untrusted half is sandboxed
  • Many add-on programs to run arbitrary applications in a sandbox
  • “Metro” apps on Windows 8 are sandboxed