Bug 445641

Summary:	RFE for removal and rethinking/rewrite of ask for password on encrypted partition dialog box
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	Jóhann B. Guðmundsson <johannbg>
Component:	anaconda	Assignee:	David Lehman <dlehman>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	rawhide	CC:	poelstra
Target Milestone:	---	Keywords:	FutureFeature
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	Enhancement
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2008-09-30 19:50:38 UTC	Type:	---
Regression:	---	Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---	CRM:
Verified Versions:		Category:	---
oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team:	---	Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Description Jóhann B. Guðmundsson 2008-05-08 08:40:28 UTC

Description of problem:

Sorry this is something that has to be killed in birth..

Where shall I start... :\

First..

I've encounter 2 bugs with the dialogue box one that I've filed which
happened against rawhide live image ( 441018 ) and then a different one 
when I was going to duplicate 441018 with preview live install which
I have not filed ( anaconda insisted on using swap on /VolGroup03/LogVol01 
instead of /Volgroup05/LogVol01 which I told it too then errors out, with an
logical error since I never told it to "Format" the swap partition in VolGroup03 ). 

All seem to be related to the dialog box and when I provide the password
for the second encrypted VolGroup or hash Global passphrase. ( same password for
both ).

I dont know if it's failing because the number of encrypted VolGroups that 
reside on the disk ( 2) or because the second encrypted one is EXT4 or because I
have 4 separated default partition layout except shrunk to 10 gigs each.
( ext3, ext3 encrypted, ext4, ext4 encrypted) installs on the same disk 
( chainloading ) and am doing the fifth from an live cd and anaconda cant handle
that..

Anyway these bugs aside the dialogue box is not a scalable nor a 
user friendly solution.

When you have separated/multiple encrypted partition layout and you would
have a separated password for each of them the dialogue box will ask you 
each and every time for each encrypted partition thou you only wanted to 
unlock partition a and partition c and this leads to it becoming pain in the ass
after being asked ca 3 times. 

I suggest 

a) 

That this be moved to custom layout menu where 
an lock icon appears on the encrypted partition and when you 
click/choose the encrypted partition you would then be asked to "unlock" it
or when you would choose the encrypted partition and then click [ Edit ] you
would have the ability to "unlock" it there 

b)

An separated menu created which lists all the encrypted partitions  
Be it one or hundred and you would have the ability to choose and unlock 
partitions there.

I recommend a over b since I'm strongly against extra menus in anaconda.

Hope this will be considered for F10 cycle and please share ideas etc.
since the current solution is not that good.



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Comment 1 Greg Morgan 2008-05-25 21:43:40 UTC

bug 441018 is the originator of this RFE.

Comment 2 David Lehman 2008-09-30 19:50:38 UTC

As it happens, we are leaning in the other direction. We are moving to a single passphrase for all encrypted block devices within a given system. We are also encouraging users to add this passphrase to their pre-existing encrypted block devices to establish a system-wide passphrase. This can actually increase security since you can use a passphrase which is a great deal stronger (and therefore harder to remember) than you could if you had to remember five separate passphrases.

Comment 3 Jóhann B. Guðmundsson 2008-09-30 20:21:37 UTC

1. Could you elaborate how the security experts at redhat came to the conclusion
that having a single passphrase for all your partions is securer 
then having a different passphrase on multiple partitions?

Logic tells me that it would be harder and more secure to encrypt each 
partition separately with different password as in if one password on one partition is cracked the other partition would not be compromised?
( or atleast would slow down the cracker )

2. Would it not then be better to support multiple passphrases 
( For those of us that do not agree ) but recommend the single passphrase
( followed by a little info in the release notes on how you came to that conclusion ) hence serve both parties?

Comment 4 David Lehman 2008-09-30 20:28:32 UTC

I already explained that by having only one passphrase you can make it a stronger passphrase since you only have to remember one.

If you insist on having different passphrases for different devices you can accomplish this with kickstart. You just supply a passphrase for each device instead of only one of them.

Comment 5 Jóhann B. Guðmundsson 2008-09-30 20:51:21 UTC

Well atleast it has been confirmed that this is not coming from the
security experts @ Redhat nor do I seriously doubt it that they would 
even suggest what your saying here. 

1xtime strong pass phrases never beats 5xtimes 5xdifferent strong pass phrases.

If the anaconda team does not have the time nor the resources to address this issue it's better to say so rather coming up with such an flawed logic.

Unless this is an order from certain agency's.
( And the plot gets thicker.. )

I'm not insisting on anything I was merely pointing out to server both parties.