*BSD News Article 77418


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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
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From: nsayer@quack.kfu.com (Nick Sayer)
Subject: Re: 2.2-960801-SNAP telnet/telnetd SRA patches
Message-ID: <nytkcBp@quack.kfu.com>
Sender: news@quack.kfu.com (0000-News(0000))
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix, +1 408 249 9630, log in as guest.
References: <nyq21XO@quack.kfu.com> <322C2F81.167EB0E7@FreeBSD.org>
Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 18:48:32 UTC
Lines: 36

"Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@FreeBSD.org> writes:

>Nick Sayer wrote:
>> I have just finished an all-nighter adding the SRA authentication
>> code to the libtelnet in 2.2-960801-SNAP. There are some rough edges
>> still, but I have at least managed to do authenticated logins
>> both between my Sun and to localhost. I haven't quite convinced it
>> to go straight into an encrypted session after authentication yet,
>> though.
>> 
>> Does anyone care? :-) I can make patches if so.

>It's interesting, and if it makes FreeBSD interoperable with a popular
>Sun authentication method

SRA doesn't quite qualify as that...

> then I'd say hey, go for it for that reason
>alone, but it does beg the question somewhat - what's the advantage over
>ssh?

Telnet comes with stock FreeBSD and ssh doesn't. :-)

Seriously, I don't know enough about ssh to say, but since telnet
already has encryption/authentication hooks in it it seems reasonable to
use them. The existing encryption/authentication modules in the stock
source either don't work or require unnecessary overhead (i.e.
kerberos) if your only real goal is to defeat packet sniffers (this
issue started with me when I was snared in a BARRNet password sniffing
incident a couple years ago).

-- 
Nick Sayer <nsayer@quack.kfu.com>  | "I don't mind shooting, so long
N6QQQ @ N0ARY.#NORCAL.CA.USA.NOAM  | as the right people get shot."
+1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest' | 
URL: http://www.kfu.com/~nsayer/   |     -- "Dirty" Harry Calahan