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Re: To use GUI as root



Loki wrote:

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On Fri, 20 Aug 2004, John Summerfield wrote:

A user who can create users can do anything.

Er, not true.

A user who can sudo vi /etc/passwd can do anything. However, a user who
can sudo /usr/local/bin/dedicated-user-creation-script cannot.
That's not a stnadard tool. If I can use adduser or useradd via sude I can create a user with UID=0. If I can use passwd to change passwords I can change root's password.


There _are_ safety measures one can take, of course, but to appreciate the need you need to know the risk.

A user who can install software can do anything.

Mostly true.

A user who can do restores can do anything.

Not true. Yes, if you can sudo tar, you can do anything. But once again,
sudo /usr/local/bin/dedicated-restore-script can't.

Again, I'l talking about standard tools.

Sometimes, /usr/local/bin/dedicated-restore-script won't let me restore what I need if it prevents me from restoring anything.

A user who can do backups can make off with a copy of your secrets:-)

Bah, who keeps secrets on unencrypted hard drives anyway? :)

Lotsa people:-)



--

Cheers
John

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