Date: Fri, 25 Jun 1999 03:16:22 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Nowlin <mike@argos.org> To: Frank Tobin <ftobin@bigfoot.com> Cc: FreeBSD-security Mailing List <freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: file flags during low securelevels Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.05.9906250257001.2338-100000@jason.argos.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9906250107320.63311-100000@srh0710.urh.uiuc.edu>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> This doesn't preserve the current state of flags on the filesystem. It > requires the admin going back through and resetting all the flags. > > Like I stated before, having this sort of knob would allow various > programs on startup to ignore the state of these flags before the > securelevel is raised, permitting them to do various things like rotate > syslog, write out state information (SKIP), and a few other things. There > are probably a lot I'm not thinking off. During startup, you know what's going on... If you're going to write script files to do things like rotate logs, what's the point of adding extra bulk to the kernel (not to mention something else I have to teach my clients) when you can do something like this: 1. Unlock the files 2. Rotate the files 3. Lock the files If you're writing the scripts, the extra couple of lines it takes to handle this doesn't really require changes to the kernel and the addition of possible security holes. As far as I'm concerned, the file flags that are present in the system do more for protecting the system against an unexperienced person learning FreeBSD than keeping Joe Weenie who just broke into your box from erasing the logs... Which one happens more often? If you're running around making /bin/date immutable, sticking these files into a "fixfileflags" script to be run after "make world" shouldn't be too tough. (Disclaimer: This message was written after getting really ticked off from staring at an oscilloscope for the last six hours, trying to figure out what's wrong with one of the coax backbones at work, then coming home and "debugging" a Budweiser 6-pack board. :) Forgive me.) --Mike To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.LNX.4.05.9906250257001.2338-100000>