Goulet, Dick wrote:
> Doug,
>
> OK, Assume that the binaries are installed under root, but a
> hacker cracks PostGres, what is to stop him/her from trashing all of the
> database files in the first place? Their not owned by root. Installing
> malware, whether it's actual code or destroying/defacing files causes
> similar if not identical problems. At least their restricted to the
> postgres user. And in my book the executables are of zero value whereas
> the data files, and their contained data, are of infinite value. So
> under your scheme we're protecting the least valuable part of the
> system at the expense of the most valuable.
The root user can not own postgres data files. The main super user which
can be any user except root (uid 0) is who owns the data files which is
determined at the runtime of initdb.
Sincerely,
Joshua D. Drake
>
>
> Dick Goulet
> Senior Oracle DBA
> Oracle Certified 8i DBA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Quale [mailto:quale1@charter.net]
> Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 11:56 AM
> To: PostgreSQL Admin
> Subject: Re: [ADMIN] Installing PostgreSQL as "postgress" versus "root"
> Debate!
>
> "Goulet, Dick" <DGoulet@vicr.com> writes:
>
>
>>to Postgres install as well. I as the DBA should be able to install,
>>upgrade, etc the software without access to the root account. Simply
>>put the fewer people who know the root password the fewer who can
>>destroy the system and the fewer who have to be told when the password
>>changes. And the fewer people who know anything, the more secure it
>
> is.
>
> This analysis is incomplete. Under this scheme, if someone cracks
> your account they can install trojaned or malicious executables owned
> by you without cracking root. The flaw is in believing that this
> scheme requires an intruder to crack two accounts to defeat your
> security. In fact, you have doubled the number of targets but left
> the amount of work required of the bad guys to compromise your system
> the same (crack one account).
>
> Put all your eggs in one basket, and WATCH THAT BASKET.
>
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