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nix-config-ryan4yin/hardening/tests/runtime-validation.md
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ryan4yin | 二花 c277c81cd6 feat(nixpak): sandbox six desktop apps (#497)
* feat(nixpak): sandbox six desktop apps

* chore(nixpak): trim OBS plugin set

* fix(nixpak): enable OBS on aarch64

* fix(nixpak): let imv read the full home directory

* fix(home): drop redundant freerdp package

* fix(nixpak): grant OBS access to V4L2 camera devices

* fix(nixpak): expose V4L2 sysfs to OBS

* fix(nixpak): expose NVIDIA encode library to OBS

* docs(nixpak): record OBS interactive validation

* docs(nixpak): record OBS RTMP validation

* fix(nixpak): run MuseScore via XWayland and PulseAudio

* docs(nixpak): explain app sandboxing rationale

* fix(nixpak): route MuseScore ALSA through PipeWire
2026-11-01 01:24:47 -05:00

6.9 KiB

Runtime validation

Nixpak wrappers are accepted in three layers:

  1. Policy/build: just test evaluates every wrapper and policy.nix rejects broad mounts, system D-Bus, keyring access and device grants outside each app's declared scope.
  2. Disposable smoke test: verify-chromium.py launches a Chromium-family wrapper with a temporary HOME and validates renderer sandboxing, environment clearing, bind scope, profile persistence and loopback policy.
  3. Interactive desktop check: launch the real app, use its normal file/network/device workflows, and confirm the sandbox does not break required integration.

Current status

App Policy/build Runtime
Firefox Pass Interactive pass; camera/remote sharing intentionally unavailable
Chromium Pass Automated smoke + interactive pass
Chrome Pass Interactive pass
Brave Origin Pass Interactive pass; backup browser without media grants
Edge Pass Interactive pass; backup browser without media grants
Zoom Pass Interactive pass
QQ / Telegram Pass Interactive startup/tray pass
WeChat (native nixpak) Pass Interactive Wayland validation pending
Foliate Pass Interactive validation pending
Krita Pass Interactive validation pending
Bambu Studio Pass Interactive pass; device_page/filament UI unavailable in nixpkgs
OrcaSlicer Pass Interactive pass; blank WebKit home page fixed
Remmina Pass Interactive validation pending
OBS Studio Pass Interactive pass; NVENC recording and local RTMP streaming work
Blender Pass Interactive validation pending
MuseScore Pass Interactive launch pass; ALSA routed to default PipeWire sink
mpv Pass Interactive validation pending
imv Pass Interactive validation pending

Intentional exceptions:

  • Chromium keeps host loopback and personal files for local development. Firefox has the same exception. Chrome, Brave Origin and Edge use pasta-isolated loopback.
  • Brave Origin and Edge are backup browsers. They intentionally have no PulseAudio, Camera, ScreenCast or MPRIS grants.
  • Firefox camera and remote screen sharing are intentionally disabled. Firefox does not support the XDG Camera/ScreenCast portal path used here, so enabling them would require granting raw video devices or the direct PipeWire socket. We deliberately do not grant those privileges.

Known packaging limitations:

  • Bambu Studio: the nixpkgs build removes the device_page frontend build, so share/BambuStudio/web/device_page/dist is missing and filament management cannot load.
  • Bambu Studio: the MakerWorld sidebar entry requires firstguide.finish = "true" in BambuStudio.conf; the upstream guide writes "1" while the web-view code only accepts "true".
  • Bambu Studio: the startup splash can render black under XWayland. This is cosmetic; the main UI renders normally.
  • MuseScore: uses Qt's XCB backend, so it runs through XWayland. Its ALSA driver uses the host pcm.!default configuration, which forwards to PipeWire; this requires the raw PipeWire socket. Launch and audio routing pass, but audible playback and score/print/export workflows still need user confirmation.

Browser smoke test

Build a wrapper from the locked inputs:

APP=chromium nix build --impure --out-link "browser-validation/$APP" --expr '
  let
    flake = builtins.getFlake (toString ./.);
    pkgs = import flake.inputs.nixpkgs {
      system = builtins.currentSystem;
      config.allowUnfree = true;
    };
  in
  pkgs.callPackage (./hardening/nixpaks + "/${builtins.getEnv "APP"}.nix") {
    mkNixPak = flake.inputs.nixpak.lib.nixpak { inherit pkgs; inherit (pkgs) lib; };
  }
'
python3 hardening/tests/verify-chromium.py "browser-validation/$APP/bin/$APP"

The script writes its disposable HOME under /var/tmp; the sandbox's private /tmp would otherwise hide profile binds. Pasta-wrapped browsers also require a usable /dev/net/tun on the host. The script checks live renderer Seccomp=2 and NoNewPrivs=1, absence of --no-sandbox, canary-free environments, effective bwrap arguments, profile persistence and loopback reachability.

Chromium-family browsers use the app-scoped Secret portal for v12 cookie encryption; they do not receive org.freedesktop.secrets. If the portal is unavailable, Chromium can fall back to weaker v10 storage; monitor Local State.os_crypt.portal.prev_init_success. Firefox uses NSS storage instead. Browserpass separately exposes the password store and GPG-agent socket to Firefox/Chromium/Chrome only.

Zoom

Zoom keeps its upstream FHS runtime inside the outer nixpak boundary. The nested sandbox propagates /.flatpak-info, uses pasta-isolated networking, and binds only DISPLAY, XAUTHORITY, /dev/video0, /dev/video1, DRM sysfs and the declared app directories. X11 remains a shared-display trust boundary: ScreenCast portal permission does not prevent capture through the X11 connection. Interactive login, audio, camera, screen sharing and file workflows passed.

OBS

Interactive validation covered PipeWire screen capture, V4L2 camera capture, desktop/microphone audio, NVENC H.264 Hybrid MP4 recording and RTMP publishing. Streaming was tested against a temporary MediaMTX server on the host's LAN address; the OBS pasta namespace cannot reach host loopback. Bilibili or another external provider still needs a real account-specific stream key to validate provider authentication and CDN ingest.

OBS records to the path configured under output settings. In Simple mode that is SimpleOutput.FilePath; Advanced mode uses AdvOut.RecFilePath and AdvOut.FFFilePath. These must point at a writable bind such as ~/Videos, not the sandbox's transient home root.

Commands

just fmt
just test
git diff --check
ruff format --check hardening/tests/verify-chromium.py
ruff check hardening/tests/verify-chromium.py
prettier --check hardening/tests/runtime-validation.md