Re: List /home directory without logging in?

From: Alan Baker (alanwbaker_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/05/04 

Date: 5 Jul 2004 13:35:41 -0700

alanwbaker@yahoo.com (Alan Baker) wrote in message news:<4e2aa94d.0407042219.3a9d19c9@posting.google.com>...
> Someone recently tried to log into all the userids on my Linux box.
> First they connected several times via http, telnet, ftp, pop3, and
> imap but were unsuccessful in logging in. Then they tried every
> userid twice in alphabetical order via SSH. Also unsuccessfully.
> (Use those strong passwords, friends!)
>
> They didn't actually use the names in /etc/passwd, but instead tried
> all directory names under /home (including non-users like lost+found).
> This makes me wonder if the preliminary probes revealed /home's
> directory list.
>
> How could someone list /home without logging in? Is there a known
> vuln I'm missing?
>
> Alan

Thanks for your ideas, Jem, Steve, and Bit Twister.

This is a server so the http, telnet, ftp, pop3, imap, and ssh ports
are open through the firewall.

Good idea about a vulnerable web CGI script that reveals /home. I'm
running mailman (pop-mail reader written in Perl) and cgipasswd
(password-changer written in PHP). They have no documented
vulnerabilities I can find. Further suggestions?

  Alan

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