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Re: eject command for normal users and some other stuff



On Thu, 2003-11-27 at 11:28, H S wrote:
> > On Wed, 2003-11-26 at 18:34, H S wrote:
> > --snip--
> > > Next, for some reason, "eject" command is also root only? How do I
> > > make normal user also be able to use that as well?
> > 
> > The easiest way is to make the eject binary SUID root. (man chmod
> for
> > more info) Note that making ANYTHING SUID root is generally a bad
> idea.
> > But if you're more interested in ease of use than security per se,
> then
> > it gets the job done. I've been doing that on a couple of my systems
> for
> > over a year now and have yet to have anyone try to exploit it in any
> > way.
--snip--
> hmm .. so a normal user by default cannot open/close the CD trays
> using eject command. I kind of don't understand, then what is the use
> of this restriction since anyone can open a tray from the 'eject'
> button on the drive?
(CCing debian-user on this for the benefit of future searches. Please
keep any replies on-list as well)

This is because the Linux security model is based primarily after old
Unix systems. Systems where many users would log onto a machine remotely
while the machine was kept in a locked up room with very restricted
access. So very few people could actually push buttons on the machine.

Coincidentally, since you had been asking about using the eject command
for a CD-ROM drive, have you checked the permissions on the device?
Check to make sure that the "cdrom" group has write permissions to the
device and to make sure you are a member of the cdrom group. The only
device that I've found I need to use eject as SUID root for is my zip
drive. Both of my CD-ROM drives are working just fine.

-- 
Alex Malinovich
Support Free Software, delete your Windows partition TODAY!
Encrypted mail preferred. You can get my public key from any of the
pgp.net keyservers. Key ID: A6D24837

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