No Root, No Problem: Automating Linux Least Privilege and Securing Ansible Deployments
摘要
This article addresses the challenges of enforcing the Principle of Least Administrative Privilege (PoLAP) in Linux systems. We present an innovative approach that orchestrates multiple Linux low-level security mechanisms to provide fine-grained control over the privileges of system administrators. We implemented a completely open-source framework to monitor, analyze, and grant the minimum set of privileges required to perform specific administrative tasks. To demonstrate its practicality in modern deployment approaches, we integrated our framework with the Ansible automation platform towards a zero-trust strategy in Infrastructure-as-Code environments. Our solution reduces the risk of supply chain and internal attacks associated with administrative privilege management while maintaining operational efficiency.