Re: netscape and /etc/passwd

To: www-security@ns1.rutgers.edu
Subject: Re: netscape and /etc/passwd
From: Jeff Weinstein <jsw@netscape.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 04:32:25 -0700
Newsgroups: mcom.list.www-security
Organization: Netscape Communications Corporation
References: <199510200946.AA13467@cpu3>

Michael Reuschling wrote:
> 
> I had a problem with netscape for SunOS 4.1.3 startups,
> so i traced it and figured out, that netscape reads the /etc/passwd-
> file.
> 
> The trace-output was the following:
> 
> [...]
> open ("/etc/passwd", 0, 0666) = 4
> ioctl (4, 0x40125401, 0xefffd514) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
> fstat (4, 0xefffd588) = 0
> brk (0x349170) = 0
> read (4, "root:hNJ93kdb9E3sQ:0:1:Operator:".., 8192) = 514
> close (4) = 0
> open ("/etc/passwd", 0, 0666) = 4
> ioctl (4, 0x40125401, 0xefffd514) = -1 ENOTTY (Inappropriate ioctl for device)
> fstat (4, 0xefffd588) = 0
> read (4, "root:hNJ93kdb9E3sQ:0:1:Operator:".., 8192) = 514
> getpid () = 6561
> [...]
> 
> Does anybody know, why netscape is doing this? If it would read the
> line for my uid, it would not border me, but root...

  It is passing the file through MD5 as part of the random number
generator seed.

        --Jeff

-- 
Jeff Weinstein - Electronic Munitions Specialist
Netscape Communication Corporation
jsw@netscape.com - http://home.netscape.com/people/jsw
Any opinions expressed above are mine.

References:

netscape and /etc/passwd

From: Michael Reuschling <reuschli@transtec.de>