Re: [Ltib] Using LTIB without root privileges

[Stuart Hughes]

On 05/07/12 08:31, Christoph Baumann wrote:
> Hi Stuart,
>
> ----- Ursprüngliche Mail -----
> > Von: "Stuart Hughes"<address@hidden>
> > An: "Christoph Baumann"<address@hidden>
> > CC: address@hidden
> > Gesendet: Mittwoch, 4. Juli 2012 11:12:34
> > Betreff: Re: [Ltib] Using LTIB without root privileges
> [...]
> > I realise that, but I'd suggest that you don't install on any machine
> > that is mission critical or sensitive.
> I for myself don't fear any intruder. But the security auditing guys see the 
> scenario that someone could compromise the development machine to inject 
> malicious code into the resulting firmware.
>
>
> > If you think about it, if your IT policy allows you to run sudo, then
> > what LTIB is doing is fine, all it is doing is removing the need to
> > enter your user password. If your IT policy does not allow you to run
> > sudo (for any command), then you should not be installing LTIB (as it
> > needs sudo for rpm installs). BTW LTIB cannot accidentally install
> > rpms
> > into your system area, that's what the weird %pfx stuff in the .spec
> > files is for.
> I hope I can get an exception from that policy. Because I need to develop for 
> the Freescale i.MX28 for which Freescale provides a preconfigured LTIB as BSP. 
> And I'm not very keen on dissecting this BSP in order to get the MX28 
> specialities into some other build tool.
>
>
> > I've been over this many times with many people. The issue is one of
> > balancing ultimate security vs usability, there is no right or wrong
> > answer. Given that LTIB wants to create an NFS mountable filesystem
> > image, at some point it needs to be root to create the files with the
> > correct user/permissions.
> Sorry, didn't want to bother you. I can understand your point. But as mentioned above I 
> need good reasons to demand to be able to "sudo".
Hi Christoph,

Do you have sudo on these machines (outside of LTIB), if not, they're 
not suitable for installing LTIB.  If they do, LTIB presents no more 
risk that the users allowed to run sudo.

If they want reason, the simple one is that an NFS root area cannot be 
correctly populated without sudo permissions (for rpm install).  If the 
don't like that there options are:

* Deny your request and offer an non-IT PC where you can do LTIB: the 
cost a few hundred dollars

* Deny your request and have you spend many hours (thousands of dollars) 
trying to work-round this.  You will ultimately fail as you'll need to 
be root at some point if you're doing this kind of development.

* Allow your request and let common sense prevail.  If they have 
concerns they should be based on something objective - a real security 
concern.  Ask them what they think could happen?

Regards, Stuart