> From: Thierry Zoller [mailto:Thierry (at) Zoller (dot) lu [email concealed]]
> Sent: Monday, 12 February, 2007 07:52
>
> GE> telnet -l "-froot" [hostname]
>
> Should we really consider this a BUG ? With all due respect, this
> reads, smells and probably tastes like a backdoor
It's a bug. I recall it being found and fixed in AIX many years ago.
Embarassing for Sun that it's still in Solaris, though.
It's actually caused by a "feature" of login; the bug is in programs
that exec login and pass "-froot" to it, and in preserving this feature
of login at all.
A quick Google search found Usenet postings about it from 1994; I'm sure
it was known well before then.
--
Michael Wojcik
Principal Software Systems Developer, Micro Focus
> Sent: Monday, 12 February, 2007 07:52
>
> GE> telnet -l "-froot" [hostname]
>
> Should we really consider this a BUG ? With all due respect, this
> reads, smells and probably tastes like a backdoor
It's a bug. I recall it being found and fixed in AIX many years ago.
Embarassing for Sun that it's still in Solaris, though.
It's actually caused by a "feature" of login; the bug is in programs
that exec login and pass "-froot" to it, and in preserving this feature
of login at all.
A quick Google search found Usenet postings about it from 1994; I'm sure
it was known well before then.
--
Michael Wojcik
Principal Software Systems Developer, Micro Focus
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