Re: Possible flaw in XFree?

From: mdonnelly (mdonnellyat_private)
Date: Fri Jun 28 2002 - 09:42:10 PDT

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    On Thu, 27 Jun 2002, William N. Zanatta wrote:
    
    > Hi folks,
    > 
    >    Talking about some bad experiences with my friend, I discovered (he 
    > told me) it is possible to abort a X session even when the screen is 
    > locked by some kind of application like 'xlock'.
    > 
    >    I have made the following test:
    > 
    >    1. Logged into the system as 'william' (a normal non-privileged user).
    >    2. startx
    >    3. Run xlock
    >    ... the screen is now locked...
    >    4. Tried a hit on some keys. The password screen appears.
    >    5. Then, 'ctrl-alt-backspace' and voila... X is down and my console 
    > is there, opened for me.
    > 
    >    I see this as a serious problem once one could let his/her X session 
    > opened and locked and anyone who have access to that machine could abort 
    > the X session and start playing around with the logged user's shell 
    > (which could be the root shell).
    > 
    >    What about that?
    > 
    >    Tested on:
    > -------------------------------------
    > XFree86 Version 4.1.0 / X Window System
    > (protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6510)
    > Release Date: 2 June 2001
    >          If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
    >          newer than the above date, look for a newer version before
    >          reporting problems.  (See http://www.XFree86.Org/FAQ)
    > Build Operating System: Linux 2.2.19 i686 [ELF]
    > -------------------------------------
    > 
    >    Regards,
    > 
    >    William Zanatta
    > 
    > -- 
    > Perl combines all of the worst aspects of BASIC, C and line noise.
    >                  -- Keith Packard
    > 
    > 
    
    This 'flaw' can be easily disabled though via XF86Config file.
    
    From the XF86Config man page:
    
    <snip>
    
    Option "DontZap"  "boolean"
                  This disallows the use of the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace sequence.
    That
                  sequence is normally used to terminate the X server. When
    this
                  option is enabled, that key sequence has no special meaning
    and is
                  passed to clients.  Default: off.
    
    
    </snip>
    
    
    --
    uidzer0
    



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