On Tue, 25 Nov 2003, Eric Loveland wrote:
> I noticed that tmail.c states: "big security hole if this is allowed" where it
> fails with this message if mail is being sent to root.
> First of all, why is this a security hole and

If mail was allowed to root or any other UID 0 user, then tmail will
happily append to any file on the system.

> secondly, how can I use
> tmail with sendmail and still have my cron messages (and other mail sent
> to root) go to my root mailbox?

Don't read mail as root (or any other UID 0 user).  Don't deliver mail to
root (or any other UID 0 user).

Forward mail addressed to root to some userid which is not UID 0; this
also applies to postmaster, abuse, and other system mailboxes.

Use UID 0 solely for privileged system tasks.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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