unprivledged users (for a service)

[Matthew Seaman]

On 15/08/2011 17:42, Chuck Swiger wrote:
> On Aug 15, 2011, at 9:37 AM, Chris Brennan wrote:
>> > It's been a while since I've had to do this and the drive that contained 
>> > all of my notes is dead, along with the backup (I was actually lucky to 
>> > recover my home drive before it also failed but my notes were not 
>> > there). I cannot for the life of me remember how to properly add an 
>> > unprivledged user that will only be used for running a specific system 
>> > service. So it doesn't need a login shell or $HOME.

> Add a user and set the shell to /bin/false or perhaps /sbin/nologin; for $HOME set it to /var/empty or /tmp, perhaps.

Good advice, except... for this sort of user that exists solely to run
various processes, generally it is preferable for them *not* to be able
to write to their home directory.  Especially if the software concerned
is exposed to the internet.

The reasoning here is that if there is, say, a buffer overflow attack
against your software, then an attacker can remotely inject and run
various sorts of shell-code exploits.  If they can change arbitrary
files in the accounts home directory, then they can relatively simply
get a login shell.

So, /tmp not a good idea. / is actually a pretty good choice, and
similarly /var/empty (which is specifically designed for this sort of
thing.)

	Cheers,

	Matthew

-- 
Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                   7 Priory Courtyard
                                                  Flat 3
PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey     Ramsgate
JID: matthew at infracaninophile.co.uk               Kent, CT11 9PW

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