Strange email?

[James Wilkinson]

Gene Heskett wrote:
> I've not setup mailman to do anything, didn't even know it was 
> installed, (everything else apparently is using sendmail) but having 
> it suddenly decide to mail me my passwords would appear to be one 
> hell of a security breach.

David Hoffman has given you a very good answer. But I'd like to clarify
this:

mailman is not a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA). Mailman is mailing list
software: it's actually the mailing list software that runs this list.
It uses sendmail like everything else (unless you're one of those
weirdos who runs Postfix or Exim, of course [1]).

It has a separate administrator password to the system on which it runs.
And that's what it's e-mailing you: in just the same way as, by default,
you'll get a monthly reminder of your Fedora List membership details.
[2] I imagine that it's just been set to the same password as your root
password or personal password.

The Unix root password should not be stored anywhere in a form which can
be turned into plain-text [3].

James.

[1] See e-mail headers to work out what I run...

[2] In case umpteen hundred e-mails a month weren't enough to remind you
that you were on a mailing list.

[3] Unless you try every imaginable password until you find one that
fits...

-- 
James Wilkinson       | Power corrupts, PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
Exeter    Devon    UK |     -- Vint Cerf
E-mail address: james | 
@westexe.demon.co.uk  |