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Old 01-28-2006, 06:55 PM   #1
BenJoBoy
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is it legitimate and allowed and can be done to make another user account set uid and gid to null 0 to make another root account with different name and possibly not damage the debian system creating and using that new account


Hi,

relatively new to linux. Managed to bring to life Debian sid server and socialise in UNIX way. 23, from Slovenia.

Before doing any damage to my stable unstable, please clear me the subject. Can it be done?

Idea is for security reasons. Mysqlf won't publish program to egrep and replace root in every source.
It would be a fleck in UNIX to do that.

Maybe I am just to try, would some say. But then, this post never went online...

Regards,
Benjamin

_
Homo Sapiens + UNIX linux = Unimo Lapiens, from Opensource
 
Old 01-28-2006, 07:02 PM   #2
KimVette
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Longest. Thread. Title. Ever.
 
Old 01-28-2006, 07:48 PM   #3
BinJajer
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^
|
|
|
I AGREE

What do you mean "make anouther root account"? Why not just add another user to the "wheel" group?

Edit: KimVette: You sigline says:* Make your topic's title descriptive of the issue. Hmmm...

Last edited by BinJajer; 01-28-2006 at 07:49 PM.
 
Old 01-28-2006, 07:55 PM   #4
KimVette
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Yes, descriptive, but not encompass the entire post!

Excuse me while I repost the entire King James Bible in a topic title in General. (kidding)
 
Old 01-28-2006, 07:59 PM   #5
KimVette
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By the way, BinJajer is right. You can't make another user be root, and you don't WANT to hack a workaround to make it happen. It's a Bad Idea. If you need root access make your user a sudoer and use sudo, or do what BinJajer said. Or, log in as root when absolutely necessary.

On a networked computer there is absofudginglutely no reason whatsoever to make another user the same as root. If the issue is you want "root" to be named something else, just edit the name of "root" to something else in /etc/password - keeping in mind that some programs may be hard coded to the root username rather than the uid (which would be the epitome of stupidity, but I digress. . . )
 
Old 01-28-2006, 08:00 PM   #6
XavierP
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A better and more secure idea would be to use sudo - that way you will have a log of which user issued which command.
 
Old 01-28-2006, 08:09 PM   #7
Tinkster
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To the OP:
Zdravo!

And:
I'm not certain I understand what you're up to; if it's your
own machine there's no problem to create another account with
uid 0; I fail, however, to see how that would be beneficial to
your systems security. The only "secure" thing is to operate
the machine as a normal (non-privileged) user and use either
sudo or su - (su -c maybe) to do admin tasks.

If the machine ISN'T yours there's obviously no way for it to
be legitimate.

The creation of such an account as such won't damage the installation;
however, it poses an extra risk, specially if you happen to use
that account for day to day work, and that's for two reasons:
1) You yourself are a threat; accidental deletion of directories
or even changes to ownerships/permissions while using that account
can render your system unusable;
2) If you happen to use a piece of software that has an exploit you're
unaware of the person controlling the machine at that time will have
root privileges, which is the opposite of what you wanted to achieve.


Cheers,
Tink
 
Old 01-28-2006, 08:21 PM   #8
KimVette
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I think he might be trying to rename root to something non-obvious to make cracking the box a little less (edit: I meant more difficult. Sorry about that.) difficult.

Last edited by KimVette; 01-29-2006 at 11:14 AM.
 
Old 01-29-2006, 05:22 AM   #9
BinJajer
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Renaming root to xv897897jklbinjarerisnowroot888907 would surely make the box uncrackable . Messing with the root account is very dangerous. Take my word. Yesterday, I accidentally deleted my startx script. If I hadn't had SLAX on hand, I'd be in much trouble.
 
Old 01-29-2006, 08:02 AM   #10
BenJoBoy
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Thanx for your advices |& oppinions. Helped me a lot so now I can concentrate on something more usefull than renaming root. Surely I will use su - as proposed.
Regarding long thread title, I'll try to be more compact in the future

Tinkster, you dont't know how great it is to find Zdravo or Živjo.


_
Homo Sapiens + UNIX linux = Unimo Lapiens, from Opensource
 
Old 01-29-2006, 09:17 AM   #11
BinJajer
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Ok, tis will be a spoiler, but coud you translate this
Zdravo or Živjo to your slavian neighbour? I sure hope it means smoething else than in Polish...
 
Old 01-29-2006, 09:23 AM   #12
BenJoBoy
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Zdravo means hello
živjo means hi
spoiler is a rear wing on a race car
 
Old 01-29-2006, 10:02 AM   #13
sundialsvcs
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Uh huh, it's "legitimate and allowed," and you do not want to do it. Period.

You have a security system at your disposal. It can help you. Use it wisely.

This is not wise.
 
  


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