Subject: Re: chown, quotas and security
To: Chris G. Demetriou <cgd@alpha.bostic.com>
From: I can teach you how to fish... <greywolf@autodesk.com>
List: current-users
Date: 11/07/1994 14:04:24
Wow. Hadn't even *thought* of those. Yes, that's a pretty good motivation
for not permitting chown to users, from an administrative point of view.
I could of course argue that chowning files to root should not be permitted
unless you are the super-user, but then that's reeeeealllly stretching it.
I concede the point -- there's just too much that could go wrong, even
without the mail hole.
#define AUTHOR "cgd@alpha.bostic.com ("Chris G. Demetriou")"
/*
* > The current state of chown(2) conforms exactly to what Berkeley intended:
* > Since quotas may be enabled (as well as other reasons), users should not
* > be allowed to give away files as this defeats accounting procedures.
* > (Or something to that effect...). The code reflects this.
*
* I wasn't quite sure of all the fun implications of making chown()
* legal for non-root users. here are some fun ones:
* (1) somebody doesn't have a mail spool file, on a system where
* the mail spool directory is mode 1777. i create
* a mail spool with their name, give it permissions
* such that i can read it, and chown it to them.
* (note that 1777 mail spool dirs aren't the default
* in NetBSD, but some people prefer them; this isn't
* a straw man.)
* (2) certain editors (vi, ex) will use a "local" configuration
* file, if it exists in the current directory and is
* owned by the invoker of the editor.
* echo a_fun_ex_command > /tmp/.exrc ; chown root \
* /tmp/.exrc
* INSTANT TIME BOMB!
*
* unless i'm presented with _very_, _very_ strong motivation for
* allowing chown() to normal users, in my opinion this presents too
* large a set of potential holes to be allowed. I don't think i'd even
* entertain the idea of allowing the sysad to set up the standard
* chown(8) (e.g. by making it set-id, or something) to allow users
* to give away files.
*
* It's just _not_ a good idea, regardless of whether or not quotas are on.
*
*
*
* cgd
*
*
*
*
*
*/
#undef AUTHOR /* "cgd@alpha.bostic.com ("Chris G. Demetriou")" */
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