KALLSYMS_ALL=y in Ubuntu

[Giannis Kozyrakis]

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Hello,

I don't know if it's the right place to ask here on this list, but it
seems most appropriate.

I am researching about exported symbols in major distribution,
security-wise, and I've noticed something strange along my research.

Ubuntu is the only major distribution that the KALLSYMS_ALL option is
set in the kernel configuration. (At least the Desktop version that I've
tested)

In Redhat, CentOS, Fedora, and even Debian, this is not set.
In vanilla kernels, it is in no way a default option.

I was looking into the sys_call_table symbol when I noticed it.

In Ubuntu you can acquire it's address doing a
'cat /proc/kallsyms | grep sys_call_table'.
In all other distros this returns nothing, in ubuntu it returns the sumbol.

My question is this:

Does this config option really needs to be enabled by default?
Is it used somewhere? Is there a reason for this?


Regards,

Giannis K.
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