Re: Redhat 7 insecure umask

From: Rebecca Kastl (rkastlat_private)
Date: Sun Apr 22 2001 - 12:30:23 PDT

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    On Fri, 20 Apr 2001, Drew Jones wrote:
    
    > Problem:
    >   Users of Redhat 7 may have their umask set insecurely while acting
    > as root.
    >
    > Description:
    >   ...When the user logs in, any shell that uses /etc/profile will set
    > the umask to 002 if the user's username and groupname match and their
    > uid is greater than 14.  If the user then issues su to become root
    > without specifying the -l option the root account inherits the umask
    > of 002.... Redhat seemed to understand that system users should have a
    > umask of 022, because /etc/profile will set the umask that way for
    > users loging in with a uid less than 14, but they forgot about su.
    
    Maybe I'm missing something here, but isn't the "problem" with su, not
    /etc/profile?
    
    From the su man page:
    
                 -, -l, --login
                  make the shell a login shell
    
    If the shell is not a login shell, then /etc/profile nor any .*shrc
    scripts are processed -- you merely assume the UID of the account you are
    su'ing to.  To assume the complete environment of the account you wish to
    impersonate, then you have to specify '-' or '-l' so that environmental
    scripts are processed.
    
    
    --Rebecca Kastl
    



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