Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 11:44:27 +0100 From: Ceri <ceri@techsupport.co.uk> To: Robert Watson <rwatson@FreeBSD.ORG> Cc: Gavin Grabias <gaving@enter.net>, security@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/etc inetd.conf Message-ID: <20010816114427.D9234@cartman.techsupport.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1010815153204.81642Q-100000@fledge.watson.org>; from rwatson@FreeBSD.ORG on Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 03:32:57PM -0400 References: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0108151331340.27240-100000@grabes2.enter.net> <Pine.NEB.3.96L.1010815153204.81642Q-100000@fledge.watson.org>
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On Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 03:32:57PM -0400, Robert Watson said:
> On Wed, 15 Aug 2001, Gavin Grabias wrote:
>
> > > Good point, but thats a little different. Warning those who care
> > > (subscribers of the list) about security advisories is MUCH different
> > > than making the OS mute because a percentage of the installers can't
> > > figure out (or don't know that they SHOULD figure out) how to turn off
> > > sendmail, telnet, etc. It just won't save the experienced users any
> > > time to have them disabled, and it won't stop the 'clueless' from being
> > > just that.
> >
> > Security is starting to sound like a bug instead of a feature for
> > FreeBSD. We are arguing about whether users can use a text editor to
> > edit their inetd.conf. The secure approach would be to disable all
> > services by default. If the user wants "features" make him/her read
> > about them and educate themselves. Then they can make the decision as
> > to whether they want the service enabled.
>
> This is what FreeBSD 4.4 does with the inetd network services. There's an
> on-going debate about how best to handle this WRT sendmail, as local mail
> delivery is required for some internal base system functionality (vi
> recovery files, cron'd events, etc).
Would there be any mileage in doing things the NetBSD way ?
From NetBSD's rc.conf(5) :
rc_configured If this is not set to `YES' then the system will drop
into single-user mode during boot.
This makes pretty damn sure that if you haven't configured your system
it's not on the network. Might be a bit tougher for the first time user,
but something like OpenBSD's afterboot(8) might help there.
Just an idea,
Ceri
--
I probably wouldn't like you. Really.
I really probably wouldn't like you.
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