Re: psql and security

From: Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net>
To: Tatsuo Ishii <t-ishii(at)sra(dot)co(dot)jp>
Cc: <pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: psql and security
Date: 2001-09-21 13:16:37
Message-ID: Pine.LNX.4.30.0109211509120.680-100000@peter.localdomain
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Tatsuo Ishii writes:

> As you can see, psql reconnect as any user if the password is same as
> foo. Of course this is due to the careless password setting, but I
> think it's better to prompt ANY TIME the user tries to switch to
> another user.

I'm not sure. A few users have voiced concerns about this before, but we
have no count of the users that might enjoy this convenience. ;-)

Basically, the attack scenario here is that if you have a psql running and
leave your terminal, someone else can come in and get access to any other
database that you might have access to, without knowing your password.
But given a running psql, figuring out the password isn't so hard (running
a debugger or inducing a core dump would be likely options), and
concluding that this password is valid for all databases is trivial since
that's the default setup.

--
Peter Eisentraut peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net http://funkturm.homeip.net/~peter

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