Thread: security documentation

security documentation

From
jeff sacksteder
Date:
The security documentation available in the official documentation is rather sparse. Is there a more detailed document I should be aware of?

As an example, I'd like to prevent a a user from being able to get a list of existing databases. Presumably, I can limit access to various system catalogs to prevent this sort of thing, but if existing documentation exists it might prevent me from shooting myself in the foot too badly.

Re: security documentation

From
Peter Eisentraut
Date:
Am Donnerstag, 29. September 2005 21:46 schrieb jeff sacksteder:
> As an example, I'd like to prevent a a user from being able to get a list
> of existing databases.

You can't do that.

--
Peter Eisentraut
http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/

Re: security documentation

From
Richard Huxton
Date:
jeff sacksteder wrote:
> The security documentation available in the official documentation is rather
> sparse. Is there a more detailed document I should be aware of?

No.

> As an example, I'd like to prevent a a user from being able to get a list of
> existing databases. Presumably, I can limit access to various system
> catalogs to prevent this sort of thing, but if existing documentation exists
> it might prevent me from shooting myself in the foot too badly.

Limiting access to the system catalogues is not simple. I do recall
someone who was trying - might be worth checking the mailing list archives.

Are there any data access issues (as opposed to data visibility issues)
you are having?
--
   Richard Huxton
   Archonet Ltd

Re: security documentation

From
jeff sacksteder
Date:
Are there any data access issues (as opposed to data visibility issues)
you are having?


No, It's just that in a hosting situation where each customer has a database of their own, they need to be boxed in somehow. In the event of an application bug allowing raw sql to be executed, it's not appropriate for them to be able to learn what other databases and users exist.

Re: security documentation

From
Scott Marlowe
Date:
On Fri, 2005-09-30 at 09:14, jeff sacksteder wrote:
> Are there any data access issues (as opposed to data visibility
> issues)
>         you are having?
>
>
> No, It's just that in a hosting situation where each customer has a
> database of their own, they need to be boxed in somehow. In the event
> of an application bug allowing raw sql to be executed, it's not
> appropriate for them to be able to learn what other databases and
> users exist.

Well, the fact that they're still on the same database cluster is the
real issue then.  If you need true isolation, then each one needs their
own (possibly virtual) server.

No matter how much you might be able to hide the other databases,
they're still there, and issuing an unconstrained join can still pretty
much kill everyone else's performance.