Re: FW: Possible flaw in XFree?

From: strangeat_private
Date: Sat Jun 29 2002 - 10:10:58 PDT

  • Next message: Timothy J.Miller: "Re: Possible flaw in XFree?"

    My reply I sent personally:
    
    On Sat, Jun 29, 2002 at 09:16:26AM -0400, Andy Wood wrote:
    > 	First, I do not believe there is s problem with switching
    > consoles as each sonsole is the users responsibility, but if they secure
    > their consoles and xwin and you can end around it with a default config
    > there is a problem.
    
    The problem here is that he thought that by securing the X console he was
    securing the text console also.
    
    > Microsoft got tore up about being able to
    > ctrl-alt-del and end tasking the screen saver to avoid the password
    > issue.
    
    You can't avoid the screen saver password by ctrl+alt+bs. You'll kill the
    session, not just the screen saver. The ctrl+alt+bs is comparable to the
    new Windows XP, when you can lock your session but other users can still
    create their own sessions.
    
    > It is a serious security hole, and, because of that should not
    > be the default configuration, even if it is fixable.
    
    It's not a security hole, you can't gain any privileges by ctrl+alt+bs a
    user's X session. It is an annoyance, but I'll rather have that than have
    X block my screen and be unable to kill it.
    
    I wouldn't mind packagers to ship it without that option as default (I
    would just activate it on my own), but I don't think that's a security
    issue.
    
    > Someone only has
    > to miss it on one system once and a security breach can occur.  Using a
    > graphical (give me a break) manager is surely not an acceptable
    > solution.
    
    What's wrong with using a graphical manager? I'll rather enter just my
    name & password than then execute 'exec startx' or 'startx & exit'.
    
    > 	I hate MS and it makes me happy to hear them get slapped around
    > when a ridiculous default config causes a major security hole. So, the
    > same standard needs to be applied here...especially when you know who is
    > watching and looking for anything to discredit a real OS to better
    > leverage their sub-standard trash code.
    
    Again, I don't think this is a security hole, much less a "major security
    hole". I can't gain anything by ctrl+alt+bs some user's X session, I'll
    just annoy him. And sometimes I just need to "zap" his sesion.
    
    Regards,
    Luciano Rocha
    



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