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Date:      Wed, 7 Nov 2001 16:20:02 -0500
From:      Klaus Steden <klaus@compt.com>
To:        brain_damaged <brain_damaged@florida-wireless.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: config questions
Message-ID:  <20011107162002.J691@cthulu.compt.com>
In-Reply-To: <200111071558.AA828899532@florida-wireless.com>; from brain_damaged@florida-wireless.com on Wed, Nov 07, 2001 at 03:58:03PM -0500
References:  <200111071558.AA828899532@florida-wireless.com>

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> Hello,
> got hit by something called adorebsd-0.34.
> guess some punks called team teso or something.
> anyhoot I have a few questions on security setup.
> (I am reading those pages on the frreebsd site also)
> in one rc.conf i have kern_secure_enabled=yes and on
> another machine no. Not sure why. 
> what is the best security ? and on the machine with it enabled i have kern_securelevel=1
> again what is the best security and what do they relate to ?
> 
BSD has kernel security levels that determine how much is possible for anyone
to do to a running system (even superuser). The default security level is -1,
or totally insecure. Stepping upwards you get other kernel security levels.
Security level 1, for instance (if memeory serves), forbids writing to any
file, even by the superuser. The next level up forbids changing of network
information (network-secure mode). They're quite useful -if- you can make them
work. Once a kernel secure level has been increased, it cannot be decreased,
so any changes you make to the security level are best performed from single
user.
>
> in the inetd.conf there is comstat and ntalk that are the only two not commented out. should they be ?
> and what are they for ?
> 
On a system connected to the Internet, definitely not. Comsat is a mail
notification protocol (a/k/a biff); ntalk is the network talk protocol, a
terminal-based communication between two users. Both are insecure (no crypto)
protocols, and should never be run on a secured system.
>
> I also have in one machine the inetd_enable=no
> is that a good thing to have ?
> 
Do you want to run the inetd or not? If your inetd isn't running, than any
uncommented entries in /etc/inetd.conf won't be running either. However, if it
is running, then they will respond to requests. On a secured machine, you
don't need to run inetd if you're running sshd (since you should be
communicating over a secured line at all times).
>
> it also say portmapper_enabled=no is that the best secure setup ?
> 
The portmapper is often a security hazard, too; I've not seen an advisory
specifically for the FreeBSD portmapper, but there are numerous other
vulnerabilities for other Unix variants, and unless you're running RPC
services (NIS/YP, NIS+, or NFS - and you definitely should NOT on a secured
machine), you won't need it.

However ... I noticed the other day on a 4.4-STABLE box that if the domainname
was set, I had to run portmap to make passwd work correctly. ... but that's my
problem.
>
> I d/l the portsentry from the packages but when i try to run it says not for this platform ???
> how do i get it to run on freebsd 4.3
> 
cd /usr/ports/security/portsentry; make install

Will download, configure, compile, and install it for you. From there, it's up
to you to learn how to use it. :>

hope this helps,
Klaus

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