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Re: VI wrapper for SUDO?



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In message <[🔎] 20011202130232.N7108@wiggy.net>, Wichert Akkerman writes:
>Previously Ted Cabeen wrote:
>> However, thinking about it, this doesn't work.  If you're editing as root, you
>> can use :e to switch to editing a SUID root file (any one you can write to
>> will work), delete the entire contents, and then use :r to bring in the 
>> /bin/sh executable.
>
>But you can restrict the file to edit in your sudoers file anyway so
>that trick won't work.

You can restrict the command line arguments with sudo, but you can't actually
restrict vi to only allow one specific file to be edited.  Even basic vi
allows you to use the :e command to change which file you're editing.  

When it comes down to it, allowing someone to edit a file as root allows them 
to edit any file as root.  I think the edit as the user and then copy into 
place strategy is the only one that really works, and even it is restricted 
to files in directories the user doesn't have write access to.

- -- 
Ted Cabeen           http://www.pobox.com/~secabeen            ted@impulse.net 
Check Website or Keyserver for PGP/GPG Key BA0349D2         secabeen@pobox.com
"I have taken all knowledge to be my province." -F. Bacon  secabeen@cabeen.org
"Human kind cannot bear very much reality."-T.S.Eliot        cabeen@netcom.com


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