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Date:      Sat, 19 Jul 1997 12:08:26 +0200
From:      Andreas Klemm <andreas@klemm.gtn.com>
To:        sthaug@nethelp.no
Cc:        andreas@klemm.gtn.com, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: sendmail complains about being unable to write his pid file
Message-ID:  <19970719120826.19772@gtn.com>
In-Reply-To: <15277.869305105@verdi.nethelp.no>; from sthaug@nethelp.no on Sat, Jul 19, 1997 at 11:38:25AM %2B0200
References:  <19970718172709.25620@gtn.com> <15277.869305105@verdi.nethelp.no>

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On Sat, Jul 19, 1997 at 11:38:25AM +0200, sthaug@nethelp.no wrote:
> 
> I'm always nervous about directories owned by bin, on the assumption
> that bin might be easier to break than root, and could then be used
> as a stepstone to breaking root.

I don't believe this, because bin isn't a password protected login.
Look here:
bin:*:3:7:Binaries Commands and Source,,,:/:/nonexistent

> So I tend to manually change most system directories to be owned
> by root.

Since bin isn't an active login I'd vote to keep things as they
are but only change the paths for programs like sendmail, that
need special permissions.

> *Why* are so many of the FreeBSD system directories owned by bin in
> the standard distribution?

I think it's a BSDism. bin is the UID and GID for Binaries, Commands
and source as shown by the entry in /etc/passwd ...

-- 
Andreas Klemm | klemm.gtn.com - powered by
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