Article View: comp.security.unix
Article #12Re: Security hole with WU-FTPD
From: Frank Cusack
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 00:00
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 00:00
34 lines
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2569 bytes
unruh@physics.ubc.ca (Bill Unruh) writes: > In <F5p6AI.569@scrum.muc.de> mibu@scrum.muc.de (M. Buchenrieder) writes: > >and manually edit the /etc/passwd file to have an entry with an empty > >password string and no corresponding entry in /etc/shadow, then you'll > >always be able to login without password. Try it. Add a user manually > >and login. I just tested it on a SuSE 5.3 system, using login.c v. 1.4 . > >Using an FTP account to actually access the system is just a way to hide > >the intruder(s) from the eyes of the sysadmin. But the damage is already > >done. > > His comment is that while login does not allow a remote root login with no > password, ftp does allow a root login with no password. This is what he > is calling the bug in ftpd. It certainly is an inconsistancy between > the two. No, his comment was that his "login scripts" do not allow no password. The inconsistency is not w/ wu-ftpd. I seriously doubt wu-ftpd hand checks the /etc/passwd file or reads the /etc/shadow file directly; it almost certainly calls getpwnam() and getspnam() which do whatever is defined for the system. > > It is also true that this bug is minor compared to the bug which allowed > a root user to be entered into passwd without a password. Which is the cause of the problem, NOT any supposed hole in wu-ftpd. ~frank -- Frank Cusack ** Icon CMT Corp. ** PGP: C001AA75 496620796F752063616E207265616420746869732C20796F7520686176652066 617220746F6F206D7563682074696D65206F6E20796F75722068616E6473210F
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X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 10952f,e0782a6bf0e6f7aa X-Google-Attributes: gid10952f,public X-Google-Thread: 102983,e0782a6bf0e6f7aa X-Google-Attributes: gid102983,public X-Google-Thread: fa777,e0782a6bf0e6f7aa X-Google-Attributes: gidfa777,public X-Google-Thread: 10669a,e0782a6bf0e6f7aa X-Google-Attributes: gid10669a,public From: Frank Cusack <fcusack@iconnet.net> Subject: Re: Security hole with WU-FTPD Date: 1999/01/19 Message-ID: <3vemorp2sz.fsf@ratbert.iconnet.net> X-Deja-AN: 434478847 Sender: fcusack@ratbert.iconnet.net References: <369FBEFB.EB1531B6@gds.ca> <0yRn2.85285$c8.41002764@hme2.newscontent-01.sprint.ca> <8YRn2.250$oD6.15990@burlma1-snr1.gtei.net> <F5n9LH.AnB@scrum.muc.de> <SS3o2.269$oD6.18936@burlma1-snr1.gtei.net> <F5p6AI.569@scrum.muc.de> <77tkol$b3b$1@nntp.ucs.ubc.ca> NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 12:51:37 EDT Newsgroups: comp.security.unix,redhat.networking.general,aus.computers.linux,comp.os.linux.networking