Obviously we can do an SRU/security update after the fact, but this
does, as Marc pointed out, leave a root escalation path for malware or
applications with a security hole. Perhaps worse is that it allows the
malware call home with the password so that it can be used later to
potentially login to the machine remotely, and then have full shell (and
root if admin) without having to go through all the hoops of doing it
within the malware itself.

Since this feature is not widely used, new in Lucid and seemingly not
well documented in Ubuntu, wouldn't it be better to disable the feature
(ie, use Martin's patch) and then restore the functionality using the
upstream patch in an SRU later? This would plug the escalation issue as
well as avoid a publicly announced USN.

-- 
the login password is stored in the user's keyring
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/566046
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Bugs, which is a direct subscriber.

-- 
ubuntu-bugs mailing list
ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs

Reply via email to