Re: Possible exploit in FreeBSD 4.0

[Crist Clark <crist.clark () GLOBALSTAR COM>]

John Herron wrote:

[snip]

> to get in as "root".  I was just curious if anyone had a box they could sacrifice to test that.. (installing more 
> than your HD can handle) and see if they get the same results.  If you have to be root to install (which seems to be 
> the case) then I guess its only good for a physical access exploit.

If you are having trouble installing FreeBSD, it is really more of a topic
to discuss on freebsd-questions () freebsd org than vuln-dev.

The only security related issue you have mentioned is that you get root
at the console of a fscked up machine. This is a feature not a bug. A
FreeBSD system by default will drop into single-user mode at a reboot if
it gets unrecoverable errors when trying to reach multi-user (which a full
disk may very well cause). It drops to a root prompt without requiring a
password. Again, this is a feature, not a bug, since the behavior can be
disabled by labling the console as 'insecure' in /etc/ttys. If that is
done, the system will still drop to single-user mode, but will require a
password.

HTH, and if you really have questions about an install, you can get some
help at the FreeBSD questions list... just maybe think about putting
newlines in your text every 72 columns or so rather than putting your
paragraphs all on one line.
--
Crist J. Clark                                Network Security Engineer
crist.clark () globalstar com                    Globalstar, L.P.
(408) 933-4387                                FAX: (408) 933-4926

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