Bugtraq mailing list archives

Re: bug in ssh allowing to be invissible


From: shipley () KPMG COM (Pete)
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 12:07:44 -0700



Sorry, but maybe i'll resend this email (I was very sleepy while writing
prev leter).

Hi,

I have just discoverd that there is a bug in sshd allowing ordinary user
to be showed as not logged in while logged in. You should simply ssh to
remote host and run command "bash". One that's not so good, is that you
will not have the controlling terminal, but ...


This is not a new bug, in fact it is not even a bug.. (feature?)
since you are not really logged in.

Rsh and several simular programs exhibit the exact same behavior and have
so since they were introduced a decade and a half ago in 4.2 BSD.

Note that Sshd still logs the connection to syslog (or how ever you
have it configured to log on your system).  Mind you that the only
thing that is not being logged is are entries in utmp/wtmp, these files
should not be relied on or trusted in the first place since it is prone
to having errors and "ghost" entries.  (some systems may system leave
it world writable)

                -Pete



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