Re: BUG #10680 - ldapbindpasswd leaks to postgresql log - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Magnus Hagander
Subject Re: BUG #10680 - ldapbindpasswd leaks to postgresql log
Date
Msg-id CABUevEws_f9zgcO+RSwkzrHdJ7wBwFEBYr0-u8Cccm9M5OrTQA@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: BUG #10680 - ldapbindpasswd leaks to postgresql log  (Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>)
List pgsql-hackers
On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 4:50 AM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
Steven Siebert <smsiebe@gmail.com> writes:
> Attached is a proposed patch for BUG #10680.

> It's a simple fix to the problem of the ldapbindpasswd leaking in
> clear text to the postgresql log.  The patch simply removes the raw
> pg_hba.conf line from the log message, but retains the log line number
> to assist admins in troubleshooting.

You haven't exactly explained why this is a problem.  The proposed patch
would impede diagnosing of many other problems, so it's not going to get
committed without a thoroughly compelling rationale.

Yes, properly logging that was intentional, in commit 7f49a67f954db3e92fd96963169fb8302959576e.


Hint: "I don't store my postmaster log securely" is not compelling.
We've been over that ground before; there are far too many reasons
why access to the postmaster log is a potential security hazard
to justify concluding that this particular one is worse.

Yeah, and the password is already in cleartext in a file next to it.

If we actually feel the need to get rid of it, we should do a better job. Such as actively blanking it out with something else. Since we know the password (we parsed it out), it shouldn't be impossible to actually blank out *just the password*, without ruining all the other diagnostics usage of it.


--
 Magnus Hagander
 Me: http://www.hagander.net/
 Work: http://www.redpill-linpro.com/

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