LinuxQuestions.org - fetchmail is blocked by SELinux

Hi fellows,

I am having a problem with fetchmail not working at boot time. I figure out the problem is related to SElinux.

The facts:

I create a "/etc/fetchmailrc" file and put "/usr/bin/fetchmail -f /etc/fetchmailrc" at the end of "/etc/rc.local" in FC5. After the computer finish the boot, I can see fetchmail is running, but there is no messages at "/var/log/fetchamail.log" as expected. No avc error messages in /var/log/messages, either.

Code:

bash-3.1$ ls -l /var/log/fetchmail.log

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 May 10 04:56 /var/log/fetchmail.log

bash-3.1$ ps -ef | grep -i fetch

root      2058    1  0 04:56 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/fetchmail -f /etc/fetchmailrc

miguel    3983  3967  0 08:01 pts/1    00:00:00 grep -i fetch

bash-3.1$ ls -lZ /var/log/fetchmail.log /usr/bin/fetchmail

-rwxr-xr-x  root    root    system_u:object_r:fetchmail_exec_t /usr/bin/fetchmail

-rw-r--r--  root    root    system_u:object_r:var_log_t      /var/log/fetchmail.log

bash-3.1$ ps -efZ | grep -i fetch

system_u:system_r:fetchmail_t  root      2058    1  0 04:56 ?        00:00:00 /usr/bin/fetchmail -f /etc/fetchmailrc

user_u:system_r:unconfined_t    miguel    3988  3967  0 08:03 pts/1    00:00:00 grep -i fetch

bash-3.1$

When, as root, I kill the fetchmail process, the following message is displayed in /var/log/message, only after fetchamail is killed, not before:

Code:

May 10 08:04:00 gold kernel: audit(1147259040.523:514): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=2058 comm="fetchmail" name="[12088]" dev=pipefs ino=12088 scontext=system_u:system_r:fetchmail_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:system_r:fetchmail_t:s0 tclass=fifo_file

Now, as root, if I start fetchmail in a terminal, it works ! All e-mail messages are downloaded from the several POP/IMAP servers listed at /etc/fetchmailrc and delivered to the users. The log file now has all details of the downloaded messages.

Code:

[root@gold ~]# fetchmail -f /etc/fetchmailrc

fetchmail: WARNING: Running as root is discouraged.

[root@gold ~]# ps -efZ | grep fetchmail | grep -v grep

user_u:system_r:unconfined_t    root      4037    1  0 08:04 ?        00:00:00 fetchmail -f /etc/fetchmailrc

[root@gold ~]# ls -lZ /var/log/fetchmail.log

-rw-r--r--  root    root    system_u:object_r:var_log_t      /var/log/fetchmail.log

[root@gold ~]# ls -l /var/log/fetchmail.log

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2900 May 10 08:04 /var/log/fetchmail.log

[root@gold ~]#

So, the question is: How to start fetchmail at boot time as the same previlegies as root in a terminal ?

I read the SElinux FAQ but I can't find a way to solve this. fetchmail is not listed as a service in system-config-security tool, so I am lost.

Any ideas and comments will be welcome !

thanks,