-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi there,
Joco Salvatti wrote: > > 1. Why doesn't passwd ask superuser's current password when it's run > by the superuser to change its own password? May not it be considered > a serious security flaw? No. If you are already root, you could add easily another user with uid 0. Or do you want to be asked for your root password anytime you use adduser? If so, you could add the user by manually editing the passwd... Generally, if someone is root who shouldn't be root, you're screwed ;) > > 2. Why doesn't the system ask the password, as a default action, to > log in the system, when entering in single user mode? May not it also > be considered a serious security flaw? And why doesn't exist a > different password to log in single user mode, instead of using root's > password? This can be enabled by changing /etc/ttys However, single user mode usually requires physical access to your box, but let's see your "real world example"... > > An real example: > > Let's suppose an attacker entered the room where an OpenBSD server is > located in, and by mistake the system administrator has forgotten to > logout the root login session. So the attacker could enter in single > user mode, without the need for the root password, and load a > malicious kernel module. He also could do millions of other things, > but changing root's password, because the system administrator would > notice it immediatelly. So? If your servers are not physically secure, there's not much the OS can do about. If an attacker could enter the room of your servers, he could easily reboot the box and boot of a floppy or cdrom into some live system (OpenBSD live CD, knoppix, whatever) and from there mount your disc and install it's evil evil additional software into your openbsd installation. Forget it. If your servers are not physically secure, you do have a huge security problem (which is not OpenBSD related). > I believe it could be more difficult for the attacker if there were a > different password to log in the system in single user mode. No. Not if the attacker is physically in front of the box... regards, Marian iD8DBQFEmjHugAq87Uq5FMsRAlixAKCsuf3TzGum0OlNXxe9V7xCqCWTbgCfZK7Y aPwVHe5F7HXyeflp/aMYNHs= =bf7g -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
