[comp.unix.xenix] Printscreen capability? SECURITY HOLE

plocher@uport.UUCP (John Plocher) (08/11/88)

In article <510@sysco> chapman@sco.COM (brian chapman) writes:
>>Is a printscreen capability available in Xenix?
>Yes
>ESC x x x	Send screen to host.
>		Current screen con-
>		tents are sent to the
>		application.

Great!  Now I (as Joe User) can do:

	clear > x
        echo chmod all+w /bin/motd > x       # or other favorite nastiness
        echo "<esc>xxx" > x                  # see above
	clear > x
        
and whenever root is logged onto the console:

	write root < x

This security hole is one reason that many sysadmins don't use terminals
with a "block mode".  Adding this to the console driver is a very subtle
way to compromise a system.

    -John Plocher

ps.  Yes, I know the script above is not exact - let's leave it that way.

ag@elgar.UUCP (Keith Gabryelski) (08/14/88)

 In article <414@uport.UUCP> plocher@uport.UUCP (John Plocher) writes:
 >In article <510@sysco> chapman@sco.COM (brian chapman) writes:
 >>>Is a printscreen capability available in Xenix?
 >>Yes
 >>ESC x x x	Send screen to host.
 >
 >and whenever root is logged onto the console:
 >
 >	write root < x
 >
 >This security hole is one reason that many sysadmins don't use terminals
 >with a "block mode".  Adding this to the console driver is a very subtle
 >way to compromise a system.

 This is one reason why many sysadmins have "mesg n" in their .profile.
 Piece 'o cake.

 Pax, Keith

Ps, I haven't looked into where in the news code articles get rejected
if they have less message then inclusion, but it is going to get
ripped out as soon as I have posted this article.
-- 
  "If green is all there is to be, then green is good enough for me" - ktf
[  Keith   ]  UUCP: {ucsd, cbosgd!crash, sdcsvax!crash, nosc!crash}!elgar!ag
[Gabryelski]  INET: ag@elgar.cts.com                 ARPA: elgar!ag@ucsd.edu