Bug 11831 - Any user is able to take computer down to runlevel 1
Summary: Any user is able to take computer down to runlevel 1
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED NOTABUG
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Linux
Classification: Retired
Component: pam
Version: 6.2
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
high
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Nalin Dahyabhai
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2000-06-01 22:18 UTC by eugeni
Modified: 2008-05-01 15:37 UTC (History)
0 users

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2000-06-01 22:57:20 UTC
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description eugeni 2000-06-01 22:18:30 UTC
Any user is able to execute /usr/bin/shutdown now (soft link to 
/usr/bin/consolehelper) without -h or -r parameters... So, when an ordinary 
user executes: 

/usr/bin/shutdown now
password: <user's password>
The system goes down to runlevel 1 (single-user)...

This "bug" can only be exploited on local machine, but, when used against a 
remote red hat server, it takes the machine down until any admin restarts 
it...

Comment 1 eugeni 2000-06-01 22:57:19 UTC
I guess RedHat should adjust pam and usermode packages to fix it, because it is 
necessary to remove this "bug" on each machine "available" to public use...

Sorry for "yet" another message about this problem (I have seen posts about 
usermode bugs just a second after I submitted my text :-), but I think it is a 
HUGE security hole it should be fixed... It is "really" annoying when you 
discover a lot of local user on a fresh RedHat installation :-)

Comment 2 Nalin Dahyabhai 2000-06-10 20:53:20 UTC
A user with access to the console (which is required to do this) can also just
switch the computer off.  That said, this is configurable using PAM's
configuration file mechanism.  Removing the files named "shutdown", "halt", 
"reboot", and "poweroff" from the /etc/pam.d directory will disable this.


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