*BSD News Article 49302


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From: toni@hamlet.m-u-b.de (Toni Mueller)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc
Subject: Re: Circumventing immutable file protections
Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc
Date: 12 Aug 1995 19:48:46 GMT
Organization: Mueller & Brandt GbR
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Terry Lambert (terry@cs.weber.edu) wrote on 12 Aug 1995 01:39:35 GMT:
> sms@wlv.iipo.gtegsc.com (Steven M. Schultz) wrote:
> > 	Ever change your password while / was mounted ro?  Uh, me thinks
> > 	passwd will throw a fit at not being able to change /etc/passwd
> > 	and associated files.  Hmmm, now we need a rw copy of /etc which
> > 	is where any cracker is likely to concentrate anyways...

> NIS.

> The password change is on the NIS server, not on the local machine,
> which allows you to cookie-cutter configurations for the local
> machine (which is the point in the first place).

Well, after reading what kind of loads of problems NIS has, I would rather
prefer it hardcoded.

If security is that important, I would probably try to make the machine
non-autobootable (kernel patch ?) so that any modified /etc/rc scripts would
just not get executed. If the system then goes down unexpectedly you have
to reboot with your boot floppy. Of course, that floppy must not be
contaminated, and it must contain a suitable kernel.


Regards,

--------
Toni M"uller	M"uller & Brandt GbR	support@m-u-b.de	+49 2261 79351
Internet, Unix, networking, administration, consulting, programming

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