Re: perl or libc6 bug?: getpwnam('root') in NIS environment

[Ben Gertzfield <che@debian.org>]

>>>>> "Miquel" == Miquel van Smoorenburg <miquels@cistron.nl> writes:

    Miquel> There is. If the request comes from a priviliged port
    Miquel> (<1024) it must have been a root process that did the
    Miquel> request. That way the NIS server can see if a process is
    Miquel> priviliged.

    Miquel> 1. mangle the password file depending on who does the
    Miquel> request. That's what we do at Cistron. Behold:

This is a really lame way of doing security, IMHO. :) If you're on a
windows or mac box, there's nothing stopping you from binding on ports
< 1024. Same thing for determining who made the request; identd
is only meaningful on a windows box.

NIS is just full of holes, really. NIS+ is theoretically better, but
as anyone who has actually used it will tell you, it is a dog and a
half.

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