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Date:      Sat, 20 Nov 1999 19:04:17 +0100
From:      Eivind Eklund <eivind@FreeBSD.ORG>
To:        Nate Williams <nate@mt.sri.com>
Cc:        Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com>, security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Disabling FTP (was Re: Why not sandbox BIND?)
Message-ID:  <19991120190417.I602@bitbox.follo.net>
In-Reply-To: <199911130031.RAA21117@mt.sri.com>; from nate@mt.sri.com on Fri, Nov 12, 1999 at 05:31:14PM -0700
References:  <4.2.0.58.19991111220759.044f46d0@localhost> <Pine.BSF.4.10.9911120922190.85007-100000@jade.chc-chimes.c <4.2.0.58.19991112102309.045abf00@localhost> <19991112173306.D76708@florence.pavilion.net> <19991112212912.Z57266@rucus.ru.ac.za> <199911121946.LAA24616@apollo.backplane.com> <199911122114.OAA20606@mt.sri.com> <19991113012855.A62879@fasterix.frmug.org> <199911130031.RAA21117@mt.sri.com>

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On Fri, Nov 12, 1999 at 05:31:14PM -0700, Nate Williams wrote:
> > > > Speaking of default system configurations - what do people think about
> > > > turning off the 'ftp' service in the default configuration?
> > > 
> > > Personally, I don't like it.  At least, not until SSH becomes a default
> > > protocol in the system, since otherwise there is no way to transfer
> > > files to/from FreeBSD boxes easily.
> > 
> > You could still easily reenable ftpd if you need it.
> 
> Or, you could still easily disable ftpd since you almost *always* need
> it right away.

I've never, ever needed it.  It transfers *cleartext* passwords.  My
view is that it is not usable for anything but anonymous FTP.

> > Given recent vulnerability history on many ftp daemons, I think it
> > might be safer to disable FTP by default.
> 
> FreeBSD's ftpd is not succeptible.  Given the argument, why don't we
> disable *ALL* network access, since all are suspect to breakins. :( (I'm
> kidding of course...)

I am in favour of disabling all network access to boxes as they come
from install.  As it is, we have a bunch of things that are most often
not necessary, and we're encouraging people (like poor misguided Nate
here ;) to run protocols that do not encrypt passwords.

Any proposal to disable things that listen to the network in our
default setup will have my approval.

Eivind.


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