Tagged Questions

2
votes
2answers
32 views

Does glibc2 version of the crypt function still use DES for alternative hashing methods?

I'm trying to understand how typical Linux distributions generate the password field for entries in /etc/shadow. I can't figure out what encryption algorithm is being used to produce the encrypted ...
3
votes
4answers
189 views

What mechanism enforces user permissions in Unix/Linux?

One of the core pieces of security in Unix/Linux systems is limiting privileges by user. For instance, certain actions can only be done by the root user. In theory, this can keep a malicious process ...
1
vote
2answers
156 views

What's the secure way to change UNIX permissions on a harcoded file often?

I'm writing a daemon that monitors something in the OS and flips execution permissions on a file in /run/ back and forth. The file has static contents and the file name is hardcoded in the daemon. I ...
7
votes
2answers
202 views

How a malware executes remote payload

Let's assume a malware was installed (on a UNIX-based platform) with some social engineering tricks. The original installed code itself may be benign, but the only malicious activity is that the ...
2
votes
5answers
448 views

Security purpose of asking admin password to mount partition on Linux

So I divided my 250GB laptop drive into 2 partitions and some swap. On the second partition which is an ext4 60GB partition I installed Fedora 17. On the other bigger NTFS partition I've got Win XP ...
8
votes
4answers
310 views

Does UNIX have a dual approval mechanism?

Sudo and logging is used to keep administrators accountable. But is there a command/configuration that lets you enforce a dual approval type control such as the the "Two Person Concept"? (eg. Two ...
11
votes
3answers
326 views

Is passing sensitive data through the process environment secure?

Recently I have been looking for the possibility to pass sensitive information from one process to another (at process startup time) without passing it through the command line or without using a ...
1
vote
1answer
161 views

Installing applications with different user accounts on linux

I have basic question about installing applications on Linux operating system, using the Oracle database as an example. When installing the Oracle database package, I created a user called ora112, a ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views

what does it mean to be setuid root?

I am reading Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems 3e. He says "Suppose that the program being attacked [with malicious code] is SETUID root in UNIX (or has Administrator power in Windows). The ...
1
vote
4answers
4k views

Netcat IP Spoofing

I am connecting to a server nc -v 192.168.0.1 1111 But I want to do IP spoofing because the server on 192.168.0.1 only accepting commands from 7.7.7.7. We are two friends, I am 192.168.1.1, and my ...
2
votes
2answers
120 views

vulnerable getlogin

I was reading "A taxonomy of Coding Errors" and I have a doubt regarding the point mentioned in C/C++ >> API Abuse >> Often Misused: Authentication(getlogin). I fail to understand the attack vector ...
5
votes
3answers
492 views

Making passwd/shadow files more secure

The passwd/shadow files in a unix-like OS contain sensitive info such as a user's password. In addition those files aren't necessarily secured: with a live CD we can access those files on the hard ...
0
votes
1answer
489 views

Can you describe a real-life scenario of exploiting sticky bits?

Sticky bit are mentioned in every UNIX security book, but I couldn't find anyone that describes the exploitation of Sticky Bit set on a file. Can you?
-5
votes
3answers
540 views

Why are people saying that X-windows is not secure?

Why are people saying that X is not secure? With X I mean: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/X_Window_System p.s.: The OpenBSD team succeeded with priviledge separation in 2003, WHY ...