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SubjectRe: Sealing the kernel
---------  Received message begins Here  ---------

> From androsyn@atomic-city.dev.powerize.com Tue Oct 26 15:50:54 1999
> On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, Jesse Pollard wrote:
>
> > It would be better (in general) to remove root as a privileged user.
> > Try
> > http://www.rsbac.de/rsbac/
> >
> > for a possible implementation.
>
> What about programs that do things like
>
> if(geteuid)
> {
> printf("Your not root\n");
> exit(-1);
> }
>
> That is one of the major problems with going a different model, your going
> to break a lot of software. Perhaps a necessary breakage at some point.
> But then again this goes against the whole UNIX ideology that root aka UID
> 0 is all powerful. I guess if the system needs to be that secure,
> environmental measures need to be taken, like don't have it on publicly
> accessable networks, or use secure methods of login access like ssh with
> RSA authentication.

Besides - if you aren't root you can't do it. If you ARE root and are
going to do it, then you gain the additional priveleges first. The test
just becomes irrelevent. (usually the sequence is: gain "security
administrator", add "system administrator", and (sometimes) add "bypass
permissions" before doing the function. (Of course the terms are different
for each system).

Doesn't really matter - there are systems without a special purpose root
now - UNICOS can be configured that way, and I believe trusted Solaris,
trusted IRIX (if you can get it..) and HP has a version. Root is just the
account that owns the system files, but doesn't necessarily have the
ability/capability to change them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jesse I Pollard, II
Email: pollard@navo.hpc.mil

Any opinions expressed are solely my own.

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