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Bugtraq archives for 3rd quarter (Jul-Sep) 1998: Re: ps(1) for freebsd.

Re: ps(1) for freebsd.

JDC (yoshiPARODIUS.COM)
Thu, 13 Aug 1998 15:48:42 -0700 

On XX 08/12/1998 03:00:21PM, spyTYR.OFFICE.EFN.ORG wrote:
> The ps(1) command for FreeBSD can be used to show environment variable for
> user proccesses running as you, or other users.  While not a bug itself, this
> will allow you to view certain things, i.e. is root logged on?, FTP_SERVER,
> FTP_PASSWORD, or if the machine is a dialup box, and ppp is dialing at the
> time you execute ps(1) you will be able to view the password and login for
> their account.  For privacy reasons I made patches that only allow ps(1) to
> show the proccesses for the user running it, making the '-a' flag go away,
> unless your uid or gid is 0.

        Paranoia is not synonymous with security, nor is it synonymous
        with "privacy."

        Hacking ps to fix a security problem in ppp is not the solution:
        fixing ppp is. ps(1)'s -a and -e flags were implemented for a
        reason; to remove them is de-evolutionary.

        tata.

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| Jeremy Chadwick                                 System Administrator |
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