On 09/15/2002 17:28, "Dale Harris" <rodmur@maybe.org> wrote: > Basically any normal user can get a dump of the passwd file and attempt > brute force attacks on the encrypted passwds, it includes the root passwd. > > This problem has been around for well over a year, but Apple ignores it: > > http://www.securitytracker.com/alerts/2001/Jul/1001946.html > http://online.securityfocus.com/archive/1/211718 > Dale Harris <rodmur@maybe.org> > However Apple hasn't seemed to bother addressing it yet since it still > persists > in OS X.2 (Jaguar). You'd think they might have taken the opportunity to fix > this problem with a new major release. It's not a case of ignoring it. It's a case of it's been around since NetInfo came out. It's *far* older than a year. But NetInfo is buggy, non-standard, poorly documented and understood, and only runs on OS X/*Step systems unless you get a connector from PADL. If you look at 10.2, they are *heavily* moving to LDAP v3, which handles this sort of thing better, but unfortunately, it has to, for now, tie into NetInfo. Netinfo is bound at a very low level to the OS, and extracting it correctly will not happen quickly. > > This obviously isn't such a big problem when you are dealing with only > limited access desktop systems, but Xserve exists now, and I would think > it'd be a bigger concern. Course you could always chmod 700 nidump. It's an issue with NetInfo, not any one utility. john -- John C. Welch IT Manager MIT Police (617) 253 - 3093 work (508) 579 - 7380 cell (617) 253 - 8822 fax
