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posted by Fnord666 on Monday July 03 2017, @10:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the it's-a-feature dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

A bug in Linux's systemd init system causes root permissions to be given to services associated with invalid usernames, and while this could pose a security risk, exploitation is not an easy task.

A developer who uses the online moniker "mapleray" last week discovered a problem related to systemd unit files, the configuration files used to describe resources and their behavior. Mapleray noticed that a systemd unit file containing an invalid username – one that starts with a digit (e.g. "0day") – will initiate the targeted process with root privileges instead of regular user privileges.

Systemd is designed not to allow usernames that start with a numeric character, but Red Hat, CentOS and other Linux distributions do allow such usernames.

"It's systemd's parsing of the User= parameter that determines the naming doesn't follow a set of conventions, and decides to fall back to its default value, root," explained developer Mattias Geniar.

While this sounds like it could be leveraged to obtain root privileges on any Linux installation using systemd, exploiting the bug in an attack is not an easy task. Geniar pointed out that the attacker needs root privileges in the first place to edit the systemd unit file and use it.

[...] Systemd developers have classified this issue as "not-a-bug" and they apparently don't plan on fixing it. Linux users are divided on the matter – some believe this is a vulnerability that could pose a serious security risk, while others agree that a fix is not necessary.

See, this is why we can't have nice init systems.

Source: http://www.securityweek.com/linux-systemd-gives-root-privileges-invalid-usernames


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @03:23AM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @03:23AM (#534665)

    You must have missed all the technical analysis posted when systemd started to push around.

    I will mention just one: monoculture. That creates a stagnant enviroment, and when the issues hit, everything falls down. Now try to justify how a systemd monoculture is great.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @05:06AM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @05:06AM (#534686)

    Linux is a monoculture. Look at AIX, the BSDs, macOS, QNX, Solaris, all have their own kernels. But every Linux distribution uses the Linux kernel.

    You want to accuse systemd of being an init monoculture when Linux already is a kernel monoculture.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 04 2017, @07:33AM (4 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 04 2017, @07:33AM (#534713) Journal

      "every Linux distribution uses the Linux kernel"

      No, not exactly. I run the Liquorix kernel most of the time. You're going to argue that Liquorix is just the Linux kernel with some crap tweaked. And, that, in and of itself, makes it different. Whichever kernel I am running, it doesn't behave precisely like the kernal that Linus uses on his machines. My kernel has different compile flags from anyone else, I can enable or disable security features, I can leave out features that I consider to be irrelevant or insecure. Just change a few use flags, and your kernel is quite different from any other kernel in the world.

      If you said that "most Linux distributions use the Linux kernel", you would be much closer to correct. Maybe you should download all the distros, and compare their kernels. Most will be alike, but not all. And, again, just because I'm using a distro, doesn't mean that I'm using the kernel that was packaged with it.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @06:37PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 04 2017, @06:37PM (#534873)

        ^ found the Technical Thug

        SITUATION: OS upgrade.

                TECHNICAL THUG: Reads source code of new release, takes only what he likes.

        https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/know.your.sysadmin.html [gnu.org]

        If you're going to argue that you don't have a monoculture because you can hack your kernel, then you can hack systemd also. The premise in the subject line is invalid, and the topic of discussion is moot.

        Don't like how systemd Gives Root Privileges to Invalid Usernames? Fix it yourself, Thug!

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:08AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:08AM (#534981) Journal

          The argument against systemd seems to run more along the lines, "systemd is, in and of itself a hack, and a solution searching for a problem that doesn't exist". I'm not really on either side of that argument. I'm the eternal skeptic, who saw little need for systemd, but was willing to give it a try. But I keep hearing more and more arguments against systemd that make sense. Now, we have a potential security flaw that makes systemd even less appealing.

          Further, there are a number of posts that indicate that systemd is more of a political solution to corporate problems, than it is a software solution to init problems.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by gidds on Tuesday July 04 2017, @08:45PM (1 child)

        by gidds (589) on Tuesday July 04 2017, @08:45PM (#534925)

        If you're not running the Linux kernel, how can it be a Linux distribution??

        --
        [sig redacted]
        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:02AM

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 05 2017, @12:02AM (#534978) Journal

          Alright. I thought, "Fair question." Then, I thought, "No, actually, that's not just a fair question, it's a good question."

          I guess I'm comparing Linux to Windows, which is a true monoculture. You take whatever Microsoft offers, and that's it. And, Microsoft intends for everyone to upgrade to Windows 10, and all older kernels and versions are to just die off. Proprietary is proprietary, and that side of the computing world is as monoculture as possible.

          With Linux, many tweaks are documented. You can compile your kernel to be as mathematically precise as humanly possible, or you can compile it with much looser parameters. Linus and his people do, as you suggest, develop in a path, with a vision, and the Linux world mostly follows along. A quick search you may find interesting, or not - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=is+linux+a+monoculture%3F&atb=v63-6__&ia=web [duckduckgo.com]

          The thing about the Linux community, is that a heretic can openly distribute whatever hacks he has made to Linus' kernel. There are no secretive forums, operating under threat of discovery by Linus and a horde of lawyers. A developer can claim to have created a "Better Linux Kernel", and flaunt his work openly, for all the world to see, and use. https://liquorix.net/ [liquorix.net]

          And, it hasn't taken me very long to alter my own viewpoint a little. Doing a quick search comparing BSD kernels to Linux kernels leads to several discussions - I'll just throw the search out here, and you may dive in, or not, as you wish - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=BSD+vs+Linux+kernel&atb=v63-6__&ia=qa [duckduckgo.com]

          You may make an argument that all Unix-like kernels are part of a monoculture, I suppose. With Unix, Ma Bell created a pretty damned good operating system. And, all of the "best" OS's tend to emulate Unix. You tell me - does that make it a monoculture, or not?