Bug 39289 – rc.sysinit welcomes system crackers

Bug 39289 - rc.sysinit welcomes system crackers

Summary:	rc.sysinit welcomes system crackers

Status:	CLOSED WONTFIX

Aliases:	None

Product:	Red Hat Linux
Classification:	Retired
Component:	initscripts (Show other bugs)
Sub Component:
Version:	7.0
Hardware:	All Linux

Priority	medium Severity medium
Target Milestone:	---
Target Release:	---
Assigned To:	Bill Nottingham
QA Contact:	David Lawrence
Docs Contact:

URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:

Depends On:
Blocks:
	Show dependency tree / graph

Reported:	2001-05-06 18:34 EDT by Landon Curt Noll
Modified:	2014-03-16 22:20 EDT (History)
CC List:	4 users (show)

See Also:
Fixed In Version:
Doc Type:	Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points:	---
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed:	2004-02-05 10:19:41 EST
Type:	---
Regression:	---
Mount Type:	---
Documentation:	---
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Verified Versions:
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oVirt Team:	---
RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description Landon Curt Noll 2001-05-06 18:34:56 EDT

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.77 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.17-14 i686)

Description of problem:
The rc.sysinit script prints "Welcome to Red Hat".

While this may be friendly, it does make problems for folks who charge a
system
cracker with ``breaking and entering'' a system.  This welcome message made
it
a bit harder to press charges because the defense claimed that the system
had welcomed the system cracker.

How reproducible:
Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.reboot
2.Notice the welcome message
3.
	

Actual Results:  The system welcomed you.

Expected Results:  Perhaps it should say something like, ``This is Red
Hat'' instead?

Additional info:

Try:

*** rc.sysinit.init	Sun May  6 14:49:19 2001
--- rc.sysinit	Sun May  6 14:49:19 2001
***************
*** 34,40 ****
  . /etc/init.d/functions
  
  # Print a banner. ;)
! echo -en "\t\t\tWelcome to "
  [ "$BOOTUP" != "serial" ] && echo -en "\\033[1;31m"
  echo -en "Red Hat"
  [ "$BOOTUP" != "serial" ] && echo -en "\\033[0;39m"
--- 34,40 ----
  . /etc/init.d/functions
  
  # Print a banner. ;)
! echo -en "\t\t\tThis is "
  [ "$BOOTUP" != "serial" ] && echo -en "\\033[1;31m"
  echo -en "Red Hat"
  [ "$BOOTUP" != "serial" ] && echo -en "\\033[0;39m"

Comment 1 Daniel Roesen 2001-05-07 08:55:23 EDT

Interesting comment. IANAL, but I also heard that.

Comment 2 Alan Cox 2001-05-19 16:22:48 EDT

I've also heard it - but as an Urban Legend. An actual legal cite would be more
useful

Comment 3 Landon Curt Noll 2001-06-02 03:27:58 EDT

Speaking personally, there is no legal site.  It never went to trial.

While you may think of it has an urband legend, the welcome
argument issue was raised.  We will never know if the it would
have stood up in court because it never went to trial.

To be in the safe side, we changed all of our systems to not
"Welcome".   It is simple enough to side-step the entire issue,
by changing the welcome to a simple "This is Redhat" or
"RedHat 7.x starting" or "Powered by RedHat" or "RedHat 7.x"
or something ...

Comment 4 kop 2002-07-10 11:37:00 EDT

So, make the welcome messsage configurable.

"Welcome to Redhat, unless you're a cracker or a lawyer."

Comment 5 Leonard den Ottolander 2004-02-05 07:34:04 EST

This bug report is nonsense and should be closed NOTABUG, or WONTFIX
at worst.

If I have a doormat that says "Welcome" I do not invite burglars into
my house. This is an obvious fact even if a lawyer might state (not
think/believe) otherwise.

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