Re: [gentoo-user] Block root user from login on xorg GUI

[Joshua Murphy <poisonbl@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:01 AM, Joshua Murphy <poisonbl@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 7:24 PM, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thursday 12 November 2009 23:08:18 Iain Buchanan wrote:
>>> On Thu, 2009-11-12 at 22:18 +0000, Mick wrote:
>>> > On Thursday 12 November 2009 22:09:01 Alan McKinnon wrote:
>>> > > Gdm itself has a config option to disallow root logins
>>> >
>>> > Ahh, unfortunately I can only access it remotely via ssh at this stage.
>>> > Hopefully the pam method will work fine.
>>>
>>> You don't need anything more to configure gdm than ssh access - this is
>>> Linux after all & a good program has text based configurations :)
>>>
>>> Edit /etc/X11/gdm/custom.conf
>>>
>>> In the section [security] add:
>>> AllowRoot=false
>>
>> Thanks for this!  :-)
>>
>>> You may then have to restart xdm.
>>>
>>> However, if someone has the root password to log in to X, then what's to
>>> stop them changing anything you do now?
>>
>> Know how?
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Mick
>
> Approach security a little more sanely and don't give untrusted users
> root access? If you have to take steps to restrict the root account,
> you need to rethink who has use of it. Preventing damage in the event
> that the system *does* get compromised is one thing, but trying to
> control someone who is *given* access to root on the software side is
> the wrong approach, in my incredibly non-humble opinion.
>
> --
> Poison [BLX]
> Joshua M. Murphy

And, a quick note on the case that the intent is to prevent the level
of damage in the event of a compromised root account, give this a
quick read over and google any terms you're not certain of the meaning
of:

Linux.com :: Securing Linux with Mandatory Access Controls
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/113941

-- 
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy