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Date:      Mon, 30 Sep 1996 12:43:09 -0400
From:      Garrett Wollman <wollman@lcs.mit.edu>
To:        Marc Slemko <marcs@znep.com>
Cc:        freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   setuid programs in freebsd
Message-ID:  <9609301643.AA22082@halloran-eldar.lcs.mit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.95.960929214259.16956L-100000@alive.ampr.ab.ca>
References:  <Pine.BSF.3.95.960929214259.16956L-100000@alive.ampr.ab.ca>

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<<On Sun, 29 Sep 1996 21:55:48 -0600 (MDT), Marc Slemko <marcs@znep.com> said:

> chpass, chfn, chsh, ypchpass, ypchfn and ypchsh are links to the same file.

> USE: Used to change various information in the password file.

> IMPACT: If the setuid flag is removed, users will be unable to change
> information in the password file.

Should specifically state which information can be modified by users.

> COMMENTS: *** Pointer to S/Key info.  *** Does S/Key need to be setuid
> root?

It needs to be set-id something, in order to be able to modify the
/etc/skeykeys file.  Since `login' is already root, it does not make
sense to me to create a special user for this file.

>   7843   24 -r-sr-xr-x    1 root     bin         12288 Jul 16 20:30 ./usr/bin/lock

> IMPACT: *** None?!?! (won't let user use login password to disable)

Bzzzt.  Any program which needs to verify a password must be root
because non-root users cannot read /etc/spwd.db.

> usability.  ** add not on rlogin and host based auth in general?

> USE: rsh is similar to rlogin in that it allows remote execution of
> commands, however rsh can not be used with interactive commands. ***
> fix up

Correctly stated: rsh cannot be used with commands that expect to
interact with a terminal.

> COMMENTS: In many environments, rsh can not be disabled without having
> an unacceptable impact on system usability.

More comments: the principal r* commands (rcp, rsh, rlogin) are
equipped to do Kerberos authentication and encryption if the user has
installed that distribution subset.  If Kerberos is working properly
to all destinations of interest, the set-uid bit can be removed with
no impact on functionality.  (It only comes into play when the
Kerberos-authenticated mechanism fails and the programs fall back to
rcmd(3).)

>   7901   24 -r-sr-xr-x    1 root     bin         12288 Jul 16 20:31 ./usr/bin/su

More comments: If the `su' program is build with the WHEEL_SU option,
or Kerberos is in use AND the local host has an rcmd.hostname key in
/etc/srvtab AND root has a .klogin file AND the user has a
username.root instance which is listed in said .klogin file, users in
group wheel becoming root can authenticate with their own passwords.
(For Kerberized su to root, it would be with username.root's password,
not necessarily the same as username.'s password.)  The WHEEL_SU
facility is perhaps most valuable in conjunction with S/Key, since it
allows authorized users to use their own private S/Key one-time pads
to become root, thus making remote administration more secure.

>  76850   24 -r-sr-xr-x    1 root     bin         12288 Jul 16 20:22 ./usr/libexec/mail.local

> COMMENTS: *** related to sendmail, setgid possibilities

None.  mail.local has to be able to create the mailbox if it doesn't
exist, and it won't be able to chown it to the appropriate user if it
doesn't have root.

>    207  352 -r-sr-xr-x    1 root     bin        172032 Jul 16 20:15 ./bin/rcp

> USE: Used to copy files across the network.

> IMPACT: Removing the setuid flag results in users other than root being
> unable to use rcp.

See above.

>    734  288 -r-sr-xr-x    1 root     bin        139264 Jul 16 20:24 ./sbin/mount_msdos

> IMPACT: removing the setuid flag results in users other than root being
> unable to mount DOS filesystems.

Additional comments: this is done securely inside the kernel without
the need for set-id mount programs in Lite2.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman   | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same
wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | O Siem / The fires of freedom 
Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame
MIT, LCS, ANA, or NSA|                     - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick



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