• Registered: 2011-02-17
  • Posts: 14

Topic: Are the prconfigured logins a security risk?

While looking up how to add a new user (search adduser), I happened to look in my /etc/passwd (below) and found several preconfigured accounts.  I had already passworded root, I also created a password for default.
There seem to be several accounts (already passworded) that allow remote access, including news sshd and chumby.  Some are for processes, I assume news and chumby allow remote access for the manufacturer (i.e., when you add an app from a Chumby.com account, the server needs a way to remote into the device and add the app).

My question is, are these passwords generally know to the community (with physical access to the device I would think they would be hard to protect)?  Is it a security hole we have to accept for the proper functioning of the device?


root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/ash
bin:*:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:*:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
adm:*:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
lp:*:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
sync:*:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
shutdown:*:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
halt:*:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
mail:*:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
news:*:9:13:news:/etc/news:
uucp:*:10:14:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/sbin/nologin
operator:*:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
sshd:x:103:99:Operator:/var:/bin/sh
games:*:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
gopher:*:13:30:gopher:/var/gopher:/sbin/nologin
ftp:*:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
nobody:*:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
apache:x:48:48:Apache:/var/www:/bin/false
httpd:x:49:49:HTTP Daemon:/home/httpd:/bin/false
ntp:x:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
default:x:1000:1000:Default non-root user:/home/default:/bin/sh
chumby:x:1001:1001:Chumby Industries,,,:/root:/bin/ash

  • From: San Francisco Bay Area, CA, US
  • Registered: 2008-12-02
  • Posts: 19

Re: Are the prconfigured logins a security risk?

This isn't an exact answer, but looking through my script might help:

http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?pid=35433#p35433

Works on the Infocast and the Chumby8.

After that, remount / read-writeable, and add a user, but first make a backup of the affected files:

chumby-XX-XX-XX:~ # GZIP=9rv tar zcvf /mnt/storage/etc.tar.gz /etc/passwd* /etc/group* /etc/shadow* ; ls -l /mnt/storage/etc.tar.gz
tar: removing leading '/' from member names
etc/passwd
etc/passwd-
etc/group
etc/group-
etc/shadow
etc/shadow-
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1008 Jun 26 23:28 /mnt/storage/etc.tar.gz
chumby-XX-XX-XX:~ # mount -o remount,rw /
chumby-XX-XX-XX:~ # addgroup -g 1002 joeuser
chumby-XX-XX-XX:~ # adduser -h /mnt/sd -g "Joe User" -G joeuser -s /bin/bash -H -u 1002 joeuser
Changing password for joeuser
New password:
Retype password:
Password for joeuser changed by root 
chumby-XX-XX-XX:~ # mount -o remount,ro /

To understand this, look at the output of "adduser --help" and "addgroup --help".

  • Registered: 2011-04-25
  • Posts: 16

Re: Are the prconfigured logins a security risk?

FiftyOneFifty wrote:

While looking up how to add a new user (search adduser), I happened to look in my /etc/passwd

I'm glad you mentioned this, FiftyOneFifty. I have an Infocast 8. Does anyone else find it weird that there is a home directory here for a user called Echelon? Spooky stuff. I'm sure it has nothing to do with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_%2 … ligence%29 <--this ECHELON but a bit creepy regardless.