Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 16 Nov 1998 03:23:40 +0100 | From | ralf@uni-kobl ... | Subject | Re: Username "root" unique? |
| |
On Sun, Nov 15, 1998 at 08:47:16PM +0100, jens@pinguin.conetix.de wrote:
> how would a Linux system react if I changed "root" to something else > (preferably "bofh" :), but kept the UID/GID the same? > > I.e. do all the tools and right mechanisms rely on UID/GID or on the > /etc/passwd|shadow user NAME? > > I don't want to lock myself out ... =;)
The problem is less locking out than stupid software. I've seen software that verifies the grants priviledges by checking for root uid, root gid, root uid and gid, username root, username root and uid. The weirdness price is granted to the piece of software that only works if the username <-> uid relation is bijective ... I can only hope that stuff has now been fixed since I ran into a lot of that braindamage during the early stages of the 68k userland work but not again during the MIPS port.
In any case I'd recommend to consider the username root and uid 0 as toxic waste even with POSIX 1003.1e/2c security enabled, there is just too much braindead software out there.
Ralf
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |