Re: Possible hosts.allow problem

[Brian Servis <servis@purdue.edu>]

*- On 29 Dec, Carl Fink wrote about "Possible hosts.allow problem"
> In order to use IP-Masq I had to edit hosts.allow to accept
> connections from my own other PC.  The only uncommented line there now
> reads:
> 
> ALL: LOCAL 198.168.1.*
> 

Shouldn't it be:

ALL: LOCAL, 192.168.1.

or for your network

ALL: LOCAL, 192.168.0.

Notice there is no * in there.  Read the man page for hosts_access(5). 

       ·      A  string  that  ends  with a `.´ character. A host
              address is matched  if  its  first  numeric  fields
              match  the  given string.  For example, the pattern
              `131.155.´ matches the address  of  (almost)  every
              host    on   the   Eindhoven   University   network
              (131.155.x.x).

Although I don't know what effect the * has on the rules.


> Since my laptop is 198.168.0.2, this *shouldn't even work*.  (I
> originally typoed the IP address and just noticed it while typing this
> message!)  However, since adding that line to hosts.allow, suddenly my
> box is open *from any host anywhere*.  I've just confirmed this by
> telnetting to my ISP's host and playing:  my ftp, telnet, and SMTP
> ports are all open.
> 

Brian Servis
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