Re: Security note: MS SQL is current worm vector

On Sunday 25 November 2001 18:13, Tom Lane wrote:
> Lincoln Yeoh <lyeoh(at)pop(dot)jaring(dot)my> writes:
> > Yeah, by default Postgresql ships practically without any access
> > controls.
>
(...)
> I do wonder whether we shouldn't list "think about your access controls"
> as an explicit step in the installation instructions or server startup
> instructions. The default configuration is definitely uncool on
> multiuser machines, but a novice might not find that out till too late.

It might be worth explicitly mentioning the following:

1) use initdb with the -W option, so that a superuser password
is set during db initialisation and before the server is started;
2) before starting the server change the appropriate settings
in pg_hba.conf from 'trusted' to 'password' (or whatever other
authentication system is to be used).

Particularly the point about initdb with -W isn't mentioned
in the "7.1 Administrator's Guide" (section 3.2, 'Creating
a database cluster'), which is probably the first port of call
for many first time admin/users.

Following these steps should exclude any possibility
of even local users gaining uncontrolled access to the
backend. (Motto: "Never Trust Anyone" ;-)

Yours

Ian Barwick