[578] in linux-security and linux-alert archive
Re: Proposal: s[gu]id standards.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeff Uphoff)
Sun Jan 28 14:39:28 1996
Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 14:21:55 -0500
From: Jeff Uphoff <juphoff@tarsier.cv.nrao.edu>
To: packrat@tartarus.uwa.edu.au
Cc: linux-security@tarsier.cv.nrao.edu
In-Reply-To: Your message of Sun, January 28, 1996 17:02:55 +0800
"BM" == Bruce Murphy <packrat@ratbox.rattus.uwa.edu.au> writes:
BM> It strikes me that an available standard on what programs should and
BM> should not be suid could be useful.
Not a bad idea...a good approach might be to list programs that have
been thoroughly (within reason) scrutinized for suid "safety." A second
list could be a "no no" list that would contain both basic guidelines
(e.g. no interactive shells, no non-svgalib games) and specific programs
(e.g. dip, for now).
The programs that *must* be setuid to function properly (e.g. rlogin,
su) should be listed separately from all others, just to prevent
confusion.
However, IMO this should be more of an advisory list than any attempt at
a standard....
BM> The creation of standard groups/users for things like games high score
BM> tables and other functions that are currently suid root could be
BM> helpful. [...]
The FSSTND group has already decided that this issue, in general, would
not be addressed by them.
>From the FSSTND-FAQ:
-----
Q) Why doesn't the standard specify the system-level users/groups and
proper ownerships/permissions/setuid bits for everything?
A) We feel that this is, primarily, a local issue. Many sites
have their own local user-id/group-id setup, and linux boxes will
have to be integrated with those. What's more, there is very little
gain from standardizing these across all linux machines, as it
typically is not essential to allow binary distributions.
-----
Now this isn't to say that it won't ever be done--it just says that the
FSSTND currently considers this issue to be outside of its territory.
For id specifications to be successful they really would have to be
incorporated, eventually, into the FSSTND. (I personally think such an
effort would be a waste of time, and thus agree with the FSSTND as it
stands on this issue.)
--Up.
--
Jeff Uphoff - systems/network admin. | juphoff@nrao.edu
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | juphoff@bofh.org.uk
Charlottesville, VA, USA | jeff.uphoff@linux.org
PGP key available at: http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~juphoff/
