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Date:      Sun, 25 Jan 1998 13:35:20 -0700
From:      Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>
To:        Eivind Eklund <eivind@yes.no>
Cc:        Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>, Andreas Klemm <andreas@klemm.gtn.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: why not CVS server support ?
Message-ID:  <199801252035.NAA29032@mt.sri.com>
In-Reply-To: <19980125205400.52069@follo.net>
References:  <19980125175618.10691@klemm.gtn.com> <19980125183247.09801@follo.net> <199801251932.MAA28784@mt.sri.com> <19980125203750.05884@follo.net> <199801251943.MAA28850@mt.sri.com> <19980125205400.52069@follo.net>

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Eivind Eklund writes:
> On Sun, Jan 25, 1998 at 12:43:23PM -0700, Nate Williams wrote:
> > > With the number of other security problems
> > > it has had (allowing remote execution), I wouldn't consider that
> > > secure, either - any kernel security hole that can be exploited by a
> > > user program could still be abused.
> > 
> > Umm, what kind of remote execution problems are you speaking of?
> > PSERVER mode allows you to connet to a port and do remote CVS commands.
> > Are you confusing PSERVER mode with standard RCVS mode which requires
> > remote shell access?
> 
> No, definately not.  pserver mode allow the user to overwrite the CVS
> wrappers, which again allow access to executing binaries.

Nope, not if you know how to setup things in CVSROOT correctly.

> This is a
> security hole (of the same magnitude as allowing the user to execute
> binaries directly).

True, but it's not a security hole if you know how to set things up and
read the information in the CVS distribution on it.

> (IIRC, permissions can be walked around in pserver mode.  I don't
> remember quite how, though).

They *could* be walked around, but that bug was fixed at about V1.9.6 I
believe (and FreeBSD using 1.9.10 which is secure if the above number is
correct..)

> Besides, a restricted 'cvs server' shell is much easier to set up and
> administer than 'cvs pserver' mode :-)

Not really.  'cvs pserver' is  piece of cake to setup *IF* you know what
you are doing.  :) :)


Nate



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