sux, an enhancer for su

[Paul Nash]

Thus spake Peter da Silva (and many, many others):
>
> In article <462 at frcs.UUCP> paul at frcs.UUCP (Paul Nash) writes:
> > I recently hacked up a fairly trivial enhancer for `su', that allows
> > members of group `wheel' to su at will _without_ needing the root
> > password.
>
> Can you say security problem? I knew you could. My boss did something
> like this until I talked him out of it.

Yes, this is a security problem.  However, I run a one-man-band,
and have an office 10 miles outside town.  For my applications,
I am far, far happier to give a cracker 5 or 6 ids that s/he can
attack than have to type a long-winded root password every time
I need to become root.

I also run a local not-quite-pubnix machine, that about 6 people
scattered around the country need root access to from time to time.
I prefer giving them `sux' to handing out the root password.

Sure, it's not all things to all men.  For people like me, though,
it is just great.  I know of about 8 people who view this as the
answer to their problems.  If you want security, however, remove
_all_ setuid programs, and make root NOLOGIN.  Oh, also turn off
the power, just in case.


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Paul Nash				   Free Range Computer Systems cc
paul at frcs.UUCP				      ...!uunet!m2xenix!frcs!paul