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In fact, if factotum were implemented on Unix along with an analogue to the Plan 9 capability device, venerable programs like su and login would no longer need
by gnufx 2y ago
In fact, if factotum were implemented on Unix along with an analogue to the Plan 9 capability device, venerable programs like su and login would no longer need to be installed ‘‘setuid root.’’ — https://plan9.io/sys/doc/auth.html https://plan9.io/sys/doc/auth.html
- opless 2y agoPlan9port has factotum. Plan9 has a completely different security model. The Hostowner (usually Glenda) is essentially "root" and you're at the mercy of the filesystem regarding file privileges etc. AFAIK there is no way to "become" glenda.
- opless 2y agoIn fact, according to sys/src/cmd/auth/login.c it looks like once you've logged it, you can shut the door using the capability device so then it's game over, no more hostowner for you
- gnufx 2y agoI haven't followed Plan 9 for ages, but I'm puzzled why Cox & co wrote "Plan 9", then. However, the point was more about the capability-oriented security in a Unix successor, and how you can use file handles as a sort of cabability without the global namespace. (They're often quoted as examples capabilities in POSIX, but that's ignoring the global namespace.)