theoretical question - can root's username be changed?

Markku Kolkka markkuk at tuubi.net
Fri Dec 2 06:47:09 UTC 2005


Claude Jones kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika perjantai, 2. 
joulukuuta 2005 06:16):
> Why the word 'feeble'?  If everyone in the
> Linux world knows that the chance is good that there is a user
> called 'root' on any given Linux box, and that user has nearly
> unrestrained privileges, why would it be feeble to double the
> guessing that must go on to get at root's privileges, by
> changing his username.

Because the privileges are bound to UID=0, not to any particular 
username. Changing the username doesn't add security in any way 
because root exploits try to change the effective UID to 0 or 
try to change the operation of a process already running at UID 
0.

-- 
 Markku Kolkka
 markku.kolkka at iki.fi




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