Comment by nine_k

14 days ago

What do you think proper architecture would be, given that ssh needs a capability to let root logins?

I suppose it could be via a proper PAM module, which is widely supported.

Too bad the first PAM RFC was published about the same time the first be version of ssh was released.

6 comments

nine_k

Reply
accrual  14 days ago

> ssh needs a capability to let root logins

One can disable root login via SSH in /etc/ssh/sshd_config. sshd also drops root priviledges once it's running IIRC.

I use use sudo or doas as a regular user once logged in.

spott  14 days ago

Does ssh need to allow root logins?

Sshing as a regular user and then sudo to root works 95% of the time…

  • jmb99  14 days ago

    How does SSH become an arbitrary user without effective root?

    • nine_k  14 days ago

      SSH should not become a different user; it should call something like `/bin/login` which uses PAM for authentication and is capable of starting user sessions.

charcircuit  14 days ago

I think a proper architecture would not even have a root account. The server would just expose an authenticated endpoint that allows for configuration and updates to be pushed for it.

  • nine_k  14 days ago

    You are thinking 20 years ahead. In 1995 most servers were still pets, not cattle.