Bug 759605

Summary:	lchsh/chsh do not work with ldap
Product:	Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6	Reporter:	Andrew Case <acase>
Component:	libuser	Assignee:	Miloslav Trmač <mitr>
Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX	QA Contact:	BaseOS QE Security Team <qe-baseos-security>
Severity:	low	Docs Contact:
Priority:	low
Version:	6.1	CC:	aleksey, tlavigne
Target Milestone:	rc
Target Release:	---
Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:		Story Points:	---
Clone Of:		Environment:
Last Closed:	2017-12-06 13:03:46 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 Andrew Case 2011-12-02 20:26:33 UTC

When running lchsh or chsh when doing user management via ldap doesn't work from the user level.  chsh doesn't seem to support ldap:

$ /usr/bin/chsh 
chsh: can only change local entries; use ypchsh instead.

And lchsh requires root access:
$ lchsh
Password: 
Changing shell for user.
Error initializing libuser: could not open configuration file `/etc/default/useradd': Permission denied.

It seems as though lchsh shouldn't require root access to update your user information.

Comment 1 Andrew Case 2011-12-02 20:27:14 UTC

See related bug#125611

Comment 3 Miloslav Trmač 2011-12-02 22:27:37 UTC

Thanks for your report.

I'm afraid removing this check would be an incompatible, and from a security point of view, risky behavior change, which I don't plan to do in RHEL6.


What could be done in RHEL6 is providing a separate binary (say /usr/bin/lchsh-noauth), which skips the PAM authentication (while leaving the behavior of the /usr/bin/lchsh unchanged).  If you are a Red Hat customer with an active subscription, please visit the Red Hat Customer Portal at http://access.redhat.com/ and report it there to allow correct prioritization of such a change.

Comment 5 Andrew Case 2011-12-02 23:14:02 UTC

Re-reported through RHN support.

Comment 7 Suzanne Logcher 2012-02-14 23:22:36 UTC

This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for
inclusion in the current release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Because the affected component is not scheduled to be updated
in the current release, Red Hat is unfortunately unable to
address this request at this time. Red Hat invites you to
ask your support representative to propose this request, if
appropriate and relevant, in the next release of Red Hat
Enterprise Linux. If you would like it considered as an
exception in the current release, please ask your support
representative.

Comment 8 RHEL Program Management 2012-09-07 05:09:59 UTC

This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for
inclusion in the current release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Because the affected component is not scheduled to be updated
in the current release, Red Hat is unable to address this
request at this time.

Red Hat invites you to ask your support representative to
propose this request, if appropriate, in the next release of
Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Comment 10 Jan Kurik 2017-12-06 13:03:46 UTC

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 is in the Production 3 Phase. During the Production 3 Phase, Critical impact Security Advisories (RHSAs) and selected Urgent Priority Bug Fix Advisories (RHBAs) may be released as they become available.

The official life cycle policy can be reviewed here:

http://redhat.com/rhel/lifecycle

This issue does not meet the inclusion criteria for the Production 3 Phase and will be marked as CLOSED/WONTFIX. If this remains a critical requirement, please contact Red Hat Customer Support to request a re-evaluation of the issue, citing a clear business justification. Note that a strong business justification will be required for re-evaluation. Red Hat Customer Support can be contacted via the Red Hat Customer Portal at the following URL:

https://access.redhat.com/