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*ix vets should know this already, but I was thinking about it again |
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today, wondering how many sysadmin (and every Gentoo system user with |
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root access is effectively a sysadmin) newbies know it, thus this post. |
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|
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No untrusted or non-root user should be able to set the path for root, or |
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write to any directories found in that path. If they can, or can |
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otherwise convince a root user to run an executable that they can write |
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to, they effectively already have root. |
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|
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Something to think about when you are running as root. Do you ever as |
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root run scripts or other executables that a user has write access to? |
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Are your system permissions and root path setup appropriately so you |
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can't run them by default, perhaps when someone puts their own version of |
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something like ls earlier in your path than the system version? |
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|
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Some cautious admins make it a practice to always use a full path when |
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invoking a command as root. That's a good practice, as far as it goes, |
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but to be really effective, they must ensure no scripts or other commands |
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they run as root, invoke anything else without full path either. That's |
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a tough one, even tougher than teaching yourself to always use a full |
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path, so not so many bother. |
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|
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Who knows, maybe this will prevent someone reading it from getting |
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rooted. Like I said, I was just thinking about it, and decided it might |
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be something worth posting. |
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|
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-- |
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Duncan - List replies preferred. No HTML msgs. |
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"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master -- |
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and if you use the program, he is your master." Richard Stallman |
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|
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-- |
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gentoo-amd64@l.g.o mailing list |