Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2001 08:31:18 -0400 From: User & Ian Patrick Thomas <ipthomas_77@yahoo.com> To: David Scheidt <dscheidt@tumbolia.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: [freebsd-questions] shutdown group Message-ID: <20010719083118.B360@localhost> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.32L2.0107182243030.83821-100000@shell-3.enteract.com>; from dscheidt@tumbolia.com on Wed, Jul 18, 2001 at 10:54:09PM -0500 References: <20010718232520.G80368@localhost> <Pine.BSF.4.32L2.0107182243030.83821-100000@shell-3.enteract.com>
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As it was put forth by David Scheidt on Wed, Jul 18, 2001 at 10:54:09PM -0500... > On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, User & Ian Patrick Thomas wrote: > > : > :As it was put forth by David Scheidt on Wed, Jul 18, 2001 at 10:13:47PM -0500... > :> > :> I can't come up with a single good reason why a non-root user should be > :> allowed to use the halt(8) or reboot(8) commands. I can't come up with many > :> for root using them, either. > :> > : I'm the only one who uses my workstation and I am trying to get into > :the habit of logging into root as little as possible. It is more convenient > :and more secure to use sudo to shutdown, then to log in as root and do the > :same thing, for me.:) > : > :Ian > > Please don't top post. > > There's no need to use sudo for this. If you put the set of users who need > to use the shutdown command into the operator group, they can use > shutdown(8). (There are some other priveledges gained from being in the > operator group, such as being able to read to read raw disk devices, which > is needed to run dump(8)). I certainly understand why non-root users would > want to run shutdown(8); halt and reboot have options which can cause > serious damage, so I don't see why a non-root user should be allowed to use > them. > > -- > dscheidt@tumbolia.com > Bipedalism is only a fad. > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message Had no idea what top posting was, thanks for the heads up. At any rate, does this sound like sound thinking as far as security goes 1. I cannot login to root remotely. From what I've heard, this is a good thing. 2. I can login as myself remotely using only openssh. I am not in the wheel group. Hypothetical situation: Someone, somehow gets my password, and roots password, and logs in remotely as me. They can't su to root, and the only root commands they can execute are the ones that I have set up through sudo, shutdown being one of them, hanging up a root initiated ppp connection is the other. This person would not be able to trash the system, right? I know this is a worst case scenario and maybe I'm being paranoid, but I think that this setup works quite well as a failsafe against a completely compromised system. Am I missing some other way that would be safer, better? Maybe I should start a new thread, this is veering away from the original topic. Ian To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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