Marvin Simkin
26/01/07, 13:24
I respectfully disagree with this proposal and maybe we should discuss =
it.
Being a member of the admin group is NOT 100% equal to being root. =
Therefore when you switch from admin group to uid=3D0 you are escalating =
privileges. A trojan that gets control of an admin's session should not =
be able to escalate itself to root without a password prompt, which =
requires a human to decide (rightly or wrongly...) yes I do want to =
increase the authority of this process.
Sure, an admin should be smart enough not to get trojaned, but what if =
they do anyway?
Maybe a cracker could write a trojan that esclates itself using the =
powers of the admin group, but why make it easier for those who don't =
know how?
The myth that it should be easy for uneducated users to expose their =
computers to harm is one reason why certain other GUI platforms have so =
many security problems.
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ id
uid=3D505(sysmsimkin) gid=3D505(sysmsimkin) groups=3D505(sysmsimkin), =
81(appserveradm), 79(appserverusr), 80(admin)
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ ls -ld /tmp1
drwxr-xr-x 3 501 admin 102 Jun 28 2006 /tmp1
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ mkdir /tmp1/tmp2
mkdir: /tmp1/tmp2: Permission denied
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ /usr/bin/sudo /bin/bash
Password:
host:/tmp1 root# mkdir /tmp1/tmp2
host:/tmp1 root# ls -ld /tmp1/tmp2
drwxr-xr-x 2 root admin 68 Jan 25 11:20 /tmp1/tmp2
host:/tmp1 root# exit
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ rmdir /tmp1/tmp2
rmdir: /tmp1/tmp2: Permission denied
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ /usr/bin/sudo /bin/bash
host:/tmp1 root# rmdir /tmp1/tmp2
host:/tmp1 root# exit
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$=20
More interesting (to me) why wasn't I prompted for a password the second =
time? (Yes I know it was designed that way, I'm asking was that the =
right decision.) Presumably there is a window of vulnerability for a few =
minutes AFTER you have been root during which you could fall victim to a =
trojan.
-------------------------------------
Marvin Simkin
Planetary Geology Group
School of Earth and Space Exploration
Arizona State University
http://simkin.asu.edu/
-----Original Message-----
From: K F (lists) [mailto:kf_lists@digitalmunition.com]
Sent: Wed 2007-01-24 18:20
To: bugtraq@securityfocus.com
Subject: Remove all admin->root authorization prompts from OSX
=20
http://www.petitiononline.com/31337OSX/petition.html
-KF
it.
Being a member of the admin group is NOT 100% equal to being root. =
Therefore when you switch from admin group to uid=3D0 you are escalating =
privileges. A trojan that gets control of an admin's session should not =
be able to escalate itself to root without a password prompt, which =
requires a human to decide (rightly or wrongly...) yes I do want to =
increase the authority of this process.
Sure, an admin should be smart enough not to get trojaned, but what if =
they do anyway?
Maybe a cracker could write a trojan that esclates itself using the =
powers of the admin group, but why make it easier for those who don't =
know how?
The myth that it should be easy for uneducated users to expose their =
computers to harm is one reason why certain other GUI platforms have so =
many security problems.
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ id
uid=3D505(sysmsimkin) gid=3D505(sysmsimkin) groups=3D505(sysmsimkin), =
81(appserveradm), 79(appserverusr), 80(admin)
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ ls -ld /tmp1
drwxr-xr-x 3 501 admin 102 Jun 28 2006 /tmp1
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ mkdir /tmp1/tmp2
mkdir: /tmp1/tmp2: Permission denied
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ /usr/bin/sudo /bin/bash
Password:
host:/tmp1 root# mkdir /tmp1/tmp2
host:/tmp1 root# ls -ld /tmp1/tmp2
drwxr-xr-x 2 root admin 68 Jan 25 11:20 /tmp1/tmp2
host:/tmp1 root# exit
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ rmdir /tmp1/tmp2
rmdir: /tmp1/tmp2: Permission denied
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$ /usr/bin/sudo /bin/bash
host:/tmp1 root# rmdir /tmp1/tmp2
host:/tmp1 root# exit
host:/tmp1 sysmsimkin$=20
More interesting (to me) why wasn't I prompted for a password the second =
time? (Yes I know it was designed that way, I'm asking was that the =
right decision.) Presumably there is a window of vulnerability for a few =
minutes AFTER you have been root during which you could fall victim to a =
trojan.
-------------------------------------
Marvin Simkin
Planetary Geology Group
School of Earth and Space Exploration
Arizona State University
http://simkin.asu.edu/
-----Original Message-----
From: K F (lists) [mailto:kf_lists@digitalmunition.com]
Sent: Wed 2007-01-24 18:20
To: bugtraq@securityfocus.com
Subject: Remove all admin->root authorization prompts from OSX
=20
http://www.petitiononline.com/31337OSX/petition.html
-KF