From owner-freebsd-security  Mon Dec  9 11:55:49 1996
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From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
Message-Id: <199612091950.OAA03744@homeport.org>
Subject: Re: Running sendmail non-suid
In-Reply-To: <199612091809.KAA11729@itchy.atlas.com> from Brant Katkansky at "Dec 9, 96 10:09:55 am"
To: bmk@pobox.com
Date: Mon, 9 Dec 1996 14:49:39 -0500 (EST)
Cc: security@freebsd.org
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Why not use smap from the fwtk (ftp.tis.com) to bind to port 25, and
then process the queued mail with sendmail?

Adam


Brant Katkansky wrote:
| I'm setting up an internet-connected mail hub, and I'd like to run
| sendmail not suid root.  I won't be needing any ~/.forward nonsense,
| as this machine will have no users at all, and will only forward mail
| based on /etc/aliases.  There will be no local mailboxes on this machine
| at all.
| 
| My intention for running sendmail without suid set is so that I can
| hopefully avoid some of the security problems that we've seen with
| sendmail in the past.
| 
| Ideally, what I'd like to do is have sendmail running as root only long
| enough to bind to the smtp port, and then give up root, never to have
| it back.  Preferably, running as 'nobody' or some other 'safe' user.
| 
| Has anyone actually done this?  Any advice or gotchas to look out for?
| Am I insane for wanting to do this?
| 
| -- Brant Katkansky (bmk@pobox.com, brantk@atlas.com)
|    Software Engineer, ADC
| 


-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume