From owner-cvs-all Tue Dec 11 7:52: 7 2001 Delivered-To: cvs-all@freebsd.org Received: from fledge.watson.org (fledge.watson.org [204.156.12.50]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B379E37B416; Tue, 11 Dec 2001 07:52:01 -0800 (PST) Received: from fledge.watson.org (robert@fledge.pr.watson.org [192.0.2.3]) by fledge.watson.org (8.11.6/8.11.5) with SMTP id fBBFpci26338; Tue, 11 Dec 2001 10:51:39 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from robert@fledge.watson.org) Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2001 10:51:37 -0500 (EST) From: Robert Watson X-Sender: robert@fledge.watson.org To: Paul Richards Cc: Wilko Bulte , John Baldwin , cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, mini@haikugeek.com, Alfred Perlstein , Mike Silbersack , Mike Barcroft Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/boot/i386/loader version src/share/examp In-Reply-To: <806020000.1008083557@lobster.originative.co.uk> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Tue, 11 Dec 2001, Paul Richards wrote: > > Consoles and/or systems not kept under lock and key (physically I mean) > > are doomed anyway. Clear the CMOS passowrd (if set in the first place) and > > then boot from CD or floppy. Off you go.. > > > A box where the BIOS is passwd protected, and has been set to only allow > booting from the hard disk and where FreeBSD is configured to have a > secure console is pretty secure from a casual attack. You'd have to open > up the box and clear the CMOS and that sort of activity would be > difficult in most situations and certainly something that would be > noticed (we're not talking about sneaking into the server room late at > night here, we're talking about office/classroom/lab environments where > the admin is trying to protect the desktop systems from abuse). > > The loader change means that all that's necessary now is to power cycle > the box and stop in the boot loader and clear the root passwd. That's > something that can be done while sitting quite innocuously at the > console and not drawing any attention to oneself. One thing that might actually help, BTW, is if we had a "kiosk" section in the handbook, or in the FAQ. Document stuff like disabling ctrl-alt-delete, preventing the loader from listening to the human, locking the CPU in a box somewhere, ... There is, I think, a need to support that type of environment, but it's definitely not the standard server environment :-). Documenting these requirements and procedures would make it easier for developers not working in that environment to understand its limitations, and adapt their work to survive that environment better. Robert N M Watson FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Project robert@fledge.watson.org NAI Labs, Safeport Network Services To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message