*** This bug is a security vulnerability ***
You have been subscribed to a public security bug by Jamie Strandboge
(jdstrand):
Binary package hint: libpam-keyring
This is on up-to-date Gutsy:
libpam-keyring doesn't work correctly when set-up together with gdm's
autologin feature.
As expected, GDM logins automatically the correct user. However libpam-
keyring fails to retrieve the user's password (probably because it
wasn't entered) and instead displays a dialog box asking for it, which
defeats the purpose of the plugin. Instead, if the password isn't
available it should just do nothing (perhaps log a message somewhere)
and allow the normal keyring unlocking to work (eg, let Network Manager
ask for the password when it needs it). This locks the loading process,
which is very annoying.
Also, the dialog where libpam-keyring asks for the password does NOT
mask the entered password (eg, with asterisks), making it visible on the
screen. That's why I'm marking this as a (minor) security vulnerability.
Note: of course this can be worked-around by simply disabling the plugin
in /etc/pam.d/gdm-autologin (and it doesn't put itself there), but it's
still buggy behavior.
It's likely that libpam cannot actually retrieve the password on
autologins (I assume GDM just "su -"s into the username, so it doesn't
actually know the password), in which case this should be attached as a
"wishlist" bug for GDM or gnome-keyring. For instance, gnome-keyring
might allow itself to be unlocked by the "root" user as an optional,
lower-security feature.
Here's my config:
$ cat /etc/pam.d/gdm-autologin
#%PAM-1.0
auth requisite pam_nologin.so
auth required pam_env.so readenv=1
auth required pam_env.so readenv=1 envfile=/etc/default/locale
auth required pam_permit.so
auth optional pam_keyring.so try_first_pass
@include common-account
session required pam_limits.so
session optional pam_keyring.so
@include common-session
@include common-password
** Affects: gnome-keyring
Importance: Unknown
Status: Invalid
** Affects: gdm (Ubuntu)
Importance: Medium
Status: Confirmed
** Affects: pam-keyring (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Assignee: Laurent Bigonville (bigon)
Status: Won't Fix
** Affects: gdm (Baltix)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
--
libpam-keyring broken on autologins
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/137247
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