So in summary, if I read you right, you are saying that java processes can
not fork kids that run under another UID as the parent process?
If that is true, this whole situation sux ass and it should not be
possible to run Tomcat as ROOT at all which would force people to use a
port mapper for privileged ports. Has this been changed in Tomcat versions
later than 4.0.x??
Mvh
KR
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Follow cigar smoke, find fat man there....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim Funk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
05.12.2002 13:24
Please respond to "Tomcat Users List"
To: Tomcat Users List <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
cc:
Subject: Re: Why run tomcat as root
Apache doesn't completely downgrade itself. Apache still runs as root.
But only as little code as possible runs as root for apache.
Apache uses root for binding to the socket (80), (logging?) and the
other socket happiness where its nice to be root. But apache has many
child processes running as a different user. This is where all the "real
work" gets done.
With tomcat - the there is only one process, the JVM. It is possible to
bind to port 80 as root to listen on the port, then switch the entire
process to another (less priviledged) user id. To do this - you need
class which can call the native OS system call. The bad part about this
is if something happens to the port 80 and you must reopen it - the
whole JVM needs restarted.
Kristján Rúnarsson wrote:
> I know, I accidentally posted that message before completing it, I
posted
> the rest of it seperately.
>
> I have heard alot of people expressing concer about this behavior of the
> JVM of keeping processes running ar root and I fully understand why. The
> problem is that if I want to access say Port 80 I have to run tomcat as
> root. But I have not been able to figure out a way to downgrade the
> privileges of the Tomcat process after it has accessed the privileged
> resources. I have been told that Apache can donwgrade the privilege
level
> of processes after they have accessed privleged resources but how do I
do
> this to tomcat?
>
>
>
>
>
>
> "Ralph Einfeldt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> 05.12.2002 12:48
> Please respond to "Tomcat Users List"
>
>
> To: "Tomcat Users List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> cc:
> Subject: RE: Why run tomcat as root
>
>
> I don't think that you are right.
>
> To run tomcat as root means you have less security than having
> more security.
>
> You have to be aware that you open a additional potential
> security hole for the user that runs tomcat. (That is not
> specific to tomcat, that is true for any application)
>
> E.G.: If tomcat or your application contains an error
> that let's some user execute a command on the server,
> this command will have the rigths of the tomcat user.
>
> If this user is root, the command can do nearly everything
> on the server. Otherwise it could just have restricted
> access to the system.
>
> If you want to use port 80 it is better to run tomcat behind
> a connector, a port mapper or a proxy and use a user with the
> least possible rights.
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Kristján Rúnarsson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>>Sent: Thursday, December 05, 2002 1:34 PM
>>To: Tomcat Users List
>>Subject: Re: Why run tomcat as root
>>
>>
>
> The Root account is also preferable beacuse the account and processes
> that run under it are considerably better protected than those of a
> normal user, provided you have not castrated the Root account security
> wise, ie configured it incorrectly. The less secure the account you run
> Tomcat under the easyser it is for a malicious user to sabotage your
> webserver by editing or deleting files, killing processes and so on.
> The ROOT acount is a citadel on a mountain top, very hard for a hacker
> to break, much harder than a normal account. If you run Tomcat as root,
> only you and those trusted few that you have mady privy to the root
> password, can manipulate the Tomcat server.
>
>
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