[CentOS] Getting ready for CentOS 5.4
Michael A. Peters
mpeters at mac.com
Mon Mar 30 13:17:24 UTC 2009
Les Mikesell wrote:
>
> Errr, why is it easier to get an admin user's name and password than the
> root password?
Because typically you only allow root login via console or an existing
login.
You can brute force a user password (or sniff if the admin is lazy in
how they connect - IE not using proper pass phrase, MITM attacks -
possible with the SSH bug that Debian/Ubuntu had) etc. but normally the
root account is disabled from remote login so it can't be remotely brute
forced or sniffed.
What you normally do is give sudo access to the commands (or wrappers to
the commands) that a particular sysadmin might need to use but you don't
give them full root access, thereby limiting the damage that can be done
should their password be compromised.
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