Passwords are an integral part of Linux security, and they are the most visible part to the user. In this section, you learn how to establish a minimal password policy for your system, where the passwords are stored, and how to manage passwords for your users. System Password PolicyAn effective password policy is a fundamental part of a good system administration plan. The policy should cover the following:
The Password FileThe password file is /etc/passwd, and it is the database file for all users on the system. The format of each line is as follows: username:password:uid:gid:gecos:homedir:shell The fields are self-explanatory except for the gecos field. This field is for miscellaneous information about the user, such as the users' full name, his office location, office and home phone numbers, and possibly a brief text message. For security and privacy reasons, this field is little used nowadays, but the system administrator should be aware of its existence because the gecos field is used by traditional UNIX programs such as finger and mail. For that reason, it is commonly referred to as the finger information field. The data in this field will be comma delimited; the gecos field can be changed with the cgfn (change finger) command. Note that a colon separates all fields in the /etc/passwd file. If no information is available for a field, that field is empty, but all the colons remain. If an asterisk appears in the password field, that user will not be permitted to log on. Why does this feature exist? So that a user can be easily disabled and (possibly) reinstated later without having to be created all over again. The system administrator manually edits this field, which is the traditional UNIX way of accomplishing this task. Ubuntu provides improved functionality with the passwd -l command mentioned earlier. Several services run as pseudo-users, usually with root permissions. These are the system, or logical, users mentioned previously. You would not want these accounts available for general login for security reasons, so they are assigned /sbin/nologin as their shell, which prohibits any logins from those "users." A list of /etc/passwd reveals the following: $ cat /etc/passwd root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/bin/sh bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/bin/sh sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/bin/sh sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/bin/sh man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/bin/sh lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/bin/sh mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/bin/sh news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/bin/sh uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/bin/sh proxy:x:13:13:proxy:/bin:/bin/sh www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/bin/sh backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/bin/sh list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/bin/sh irc:x:39:39:ircd:/var/run/ircd:/bin/sh gnats:x:41:41:Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin):/var/lib/gnats:/bin/sh nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/bin/sh dhcp:x:101:101::/nonexistent:/bin/false syslog:x:102:102::/home/syslog:/bin/false klog:x:103:103::/home/klog:/bin/false cupsys:x:100:106::/home/cupsys:/bin/false messagebus:x:104:107::/var/run/dbus:/bin/false haldaemon:x:108:108:Hardware abstraction layer,,,:/var/run/hal:/bin/false gdm:x:105:111:Gnome Display Manager:/var/lib/gdm:/bin/false hplip:x:106:7:HPLIP system user,,,:/var/run/hplip:/bin/false andrew:x:1000:1000:Andrew Hudson,17,01225112233,01225445566:\ /home/andrew:/bin/bash beagleindex:x:107:65534::/var/cache/beagle:/bin/false Note that all the password fields do not show a password, but contain an x because they are shadow passwords, a useful security enhancement to Linux, discussed in the following section. Shadow PasswordsIt is considered a security risk to keep any password in /etc/passwd because anyone with read access can run a cracking program on the file and obtain the passwords with little trouble. To avoid this risk, shadow passwords are used so that only an x appears in the password field of /etc/passwd; the real passwords are kept in /etc/shadow, a file that can only be read by the sysadmin (and PAM, the Pluggable Authentication Modules authentication manager; see the "PAM Explained" sidebar for an explanation of PAM). Special versions of the traditional password and login programs must be used to enable shadow passwords. Shadow passwords are automatically enabled during the installation phase of the operating system on Ubuntu systems. Let's examine a listing of the shadow companion to /etc/passwd, the /etc/shadow file: # cat /etc/shadow root:*:13299:0:99999:7::: daemon:*:13299:0:99999:7::: bin:*:13299:0:99999:7::: sys:*:13299:0:99999:7::: sync:*:13299:0:99999:7::: games:*:13299:0:99999:7::: man:*:13299:0:99999:7::: lp:*:13299:0:99999:7::: mail:*:13299:0:99999:7::: news:*:13299:0:99999:7::: uucp:*:13299:0:99999:7::: proxy:*:13299:0:99999:7::: www-data:*:13299:0:99999:7::: backup:*:13299:0:99999:7::: list:*:13299:0:99999:7::: irc:*:13299:0:99999:7::: gnats:*:13299:0:99999:7::: nobody:*:13299:0:99999:7::: dhcp:!:13299:0:99999:7::: syslog:!:13299:0:99999:7::: klog:!:13299:0:99999:7::: cupsys:!:13299:0:99999:7::: messagebus:!:13299:0:99999:7::: haldaemon:!:13299:0:99999:7::: gdm:!:13299:0:99999:7::: hplip:!:13299:0:99999:7::: andrew:$1$6LT/qkWL$sPJPp.2QkpC8JPtpRk906/:13299:0:99999:7::: beagleindex:!:13299:0:99999:7::: The fields are separated by colons and are, in order:
Note that password expiration dates and warnings are disabled by default in Ubuntu. These features are not used on home systems and usually not used for small offices. It is the sysadmin's responsibility to establish and enforce password expiration policies. The permissions on the /etc/shadow file should be set so that it is not writable or readable by regular users: The permissions should be 600.
Managing Password Security for UsersSelecting appropriate user passwords is always an exercise in trade-offs. A password such as password (do not laugh, it has been used too often before in the real world with devastating consequences) is just too easy to guess by an intruder as are simple words or number combinations (a street address, for example). A security auditor for one of my former employers used to take the cover sheet from an employee's personnel file (which contained the usual personal information of name, address, birth date, and so on) and then attempt to log on to a terminal with passwords constructed from that informationand often succeeded in logging on. On the other hand, a password such as 2a56u'"F($84u&#^Hiu44Ik%$([#EJD is sure to present great difficulty to an intruder (or an auditor). However, that password is so difficult to remember that it would be likely that the password owner would write that password down and tape it next to her keyboard. I worked for a business in which the entry code to one of the buildings was etched into the cigarette bin outside the door; we never found out who did this, but quickly changed the security number. This is but one of many examples of poor security in the field. The sysadmin has control, with settings in the /etc/shadow file, over how often the password must be changed. The settings can be changed using a text editor, the change command, or a configuration tool such as Ubuntu's User Manager, as shown previously in Figure 14.1. Click on the Password Info tab under that particular user's Properties to set individual password policies. Changing Passwords in a BatchOn a large system, there might be times when a large number of users and their passwords need some attention. The super user can change passwords in a batch by using the chpasswd command, which accepts input as a name/password pair per line in the following form: $ sudo chpasswd username:password Passwords can be changed en masse by redirecting a list of name and password pairs to the command. An appropriate shell script can be constructed with the information gleaned from Chapter 15. However, Ubuntu also provides the newusers command to add users in a batch from a text file. This command also allows a user to be added to a group, and a new directory can be added for the user, too. |