Re: Looking for Subversion server-side SSH key manager
- From: Nico <nkadel@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 16 Jun 2007 05:08:45 -0700
On 16 Jun, 12:34, "Stachu 'Dozzie' K."
<doz...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Zawarto¶æ nag³ówka ["Followup-To:" comp.os.linux.security.]
On 16.06.2007, Nico <nka...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Morning, folks:
Subversion has long had a fundamental flaw in its Linux or UNIX
command line clients: like CVS, from which it evolved, it stores
passwords locally in the clear on the client side. Using SSH or HTTPS
authentication does not address this. Many good clients, such as
TortoiseSVN, use the local operating system's password storage, but
for CygWin or Linux or UNIX clients, it's an amazingly fundamental
security problem.
Erm. How would you like to store Subversion password? Subversion must be
able to read it. If the password is encrypted in any way, Subversion
must ask user for decryption key. Otherwise everything could be stored
as plain text, since "encryption with publicly known key" is no
encryption at all. "Windows password storage", whatever are you talking
about, is affected exactly by the same facts. It's just a matter of
reading appropriate object from the system.
I believe I just said. It's an issue I've raised before in the
Subversion developer's and discussion lists. The Subversion client
must be able to access it, true. That *does not* mean it has to be
stored in plain text!!!! Numerous tools, such as Internet Explorer,
Firefox, and ssh-agent, store keys encrypted on local disk that are
unlocked by the user at login or software activation time and are not
available to any schmuck who can read a backup tape or convince an NFS
server that he's actually got the same login name as the software
owner, plug in a USB stick at an unattended console and read the
user's stored SVN configuration settings, etc., etc., etc.
"Reading appropriate objects from the system" should require access to
RAM, not to the backup tapes or the disk from a botnetted machine or
shared home directories in a corporate network. No one but the key
owner should be able to extract the key, even if they have access to
the user's files: this is a serious basic of network security..
.
- Follow-Ups:
- Re: Looking for Subversion server-side SSH key manager
- From: Stachu 'Dozzie' K.
- Re: Looking for Subversion server-side SSH key manager
- Prev by Date: Re: Details regarding computer forensic
- Next by Date: Re: Looking for Subversion server-side SSH key manager
- Previous by thread: Details regarding computer forensic
- Next by thread: Re: Looking for Subversion server-side SSH key manager
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
