Re: Replacing MD5 hash in pg_auth... - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Steve Atkins
Subject Re: Replacing MD5 hash in pg_auth...
Date
Msg-id DB042D64-ECD0-4F89-985D-B800DCB82D0D@blighty.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to Replacing MD5 hash in pg_auth...  ("Peter van der Maas" <peter@abitogroup.com>)
Responses Re: Replacing MD5 hash in pg_auth...  (Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>)
List pgsql-general
On Apr 14, 2006, at 6:47 PM, Peter van der Maas wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Is it correct to assume that if a user has write permission to
> \data\global\pg_auth on a Win32 machine, the superuser's MD5 hash
> can be
> replaced with one of a known origin in order to own the DB?

Probably. It'd be much easier to edit pg_hba.conf, though.

If anyone other than postgres has read permission, let alone write
permission, to /usr/local/pgsql/data or equivalent, or anywhere
underneath
there, you're on very shaky security grounds.

>
> I do practice as noted in the Win FAQ, just want to make sure I am not
> missing something:
>
> "If you are running PostgreSQL on a multi-user system, you should
> remove
> the permissions from all non-administrative users from the PostgreSQL
> directories. No user ever needs permissions on the PostgreSQL files -
> all communication is done through the libpq connection. Direct
> access to
> data files can lead to information disclosure or system instability!"

As in "We 0wn3rz y0uz database".

Cheers,
   Steve


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