The problem is that almost all distros are forcing users to use sudo now. Even Kali Linux is now requiring the use of sudo. When I run the exploit on my Slackware linux install, I just get a message "be considerate of other users". :-)
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The problem is that almost all distros are forcing users to use sudo now.
What are the alternatives?
- Handing out the root password to everyone needing it?
- Using su? Full, unrestricted root for everyone? That's nearly as evil as handing out the root password.
- Using doas? The latter looks good, but is BSD-only.
sudo was designed to be safe, including restricting users to run only some commands as root, and optional logging. But it became too complex when it tried to prevent subshells running as root, e.g by injecting libraries (IIRC) and by filtering command parameters.
Using sudo just as a prefix for any command to be run as root is syntactically correct, but in this very common default configuration it is nothing more than a su replacement asking for the user password instead of the root password for all people being part of the wheel group (sudo group on Debian, because wheel is evil for some strange reason).
A safe sudo configuration is possible, but it requires a lot of time thinking through the capabilities of the sudo configuration. See below.
This particular exploit breaks a completely nonsense feature, echoing a * for every character of the password typed in, which is OFF by default. Linux distributions became vulnerable to this exploit when they messed with the configuration of sudo.
sudo has a problem: Too many features. doas fixes that for *BSD.
sudo has two other problems: An unusual config file format and a man page for that starts with "how to read this manual". https://xkcd.com/1343/. My favorite heading is "Quick guide to EBNF". Yes, it may be technically correct, but it is on the far right side of the xkcd.
Alexander
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Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)
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How about sticking to the original unix ideal, with a root account. Only root can modify the system. Slackware still runs that way.
What I see happening is the "Windowsification" of linux, where users ( or the distro makers ) wants to dumb down the user. I see no problem with a user switching to a root console to install a package, the use of sudo is a glaring root security hole. Any user with sudo can become root and backdoor a system, how convenient for the 3 letter agencies. :-) Another alternative, is installing packages in the user's home directory if they are not root.
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Good one, mike. Talk about missing the point. :eyeroll:
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