Re: /etc/utmp

[ole!rwing!pat () nwnexus wa com (Pat Myrto)]

"In the previous message, Norman Wilson said..."
> Bill Cheswick suggests that programs be made set-groupid `utmp' to write
> on /etc/utmp; Mitch Wright observes that if writing on utmp allows you to
> become super-user, group utmp just becomes another name for userid 0.
> This is true if there is really some program that trusts the contents
> of utmp and must itself run as the super-user.  Are there any such
> programs?  I can't think of any.

Consider the comsec daemon for one example.

-- 
pat@rwing  [If all fails, try:  rwing!pat () ole cdac com]  Pat Myrto - Seattle WA
"No one has the right to destroy another person's belief by demanding
empirical evidence."  --   Ann Landers, nationally syndicated advice columnist
and Director at Handgun Control Inc.