Re: shell of place-holder accounts (shouldn't be a valid shell)

[john@dhh.gt.org]

Chris Ulrich writes:
> If a security hole in a program or a misconfigured machine allow a remote
> badguy to put a .rhosts or .ssh/authorized_keys file into the home
> directory of a 'place holder' account, that account suddenly allows the
> badguy onto the machine.  Because the placeholder accounts have home
> directories all over the filesystem, almost any innocent NFS
> misconfiguration may allow this to happen.

> I think, though, that the cost of changing these account's shells to
> /bin/false is not high at all.  In situations where the account is
> sometimes used for interactive logins or is accessed by su, it is
> reasonable to give that account a live shell, but this should only be
> done on an as needed basis.

Can't many of these accounts get by with no home directory?  Perhaps the
prototype passwd entry for these accounts should be something like

	dummy:*:999:999:::/bin/false

and the policy should say that even if the account needs a shell the home
directory field should be left empty if possible.
-- 
John Hasler
john@dhh.gt.org (John Hasler)
Dancing Horse Hill
Elmwood, WI


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