security(8) mailbox check question

[Ingo Schwarze]

Hi,

the smtpd(8) daemon supports "deliver to maildir" out of the box,
and even though putting the user maildirs below /var/mail/ is not
the default, it's one of many possible and logical choices, and i
see nothing wrong with it.

Adam Wolk noticed on misc@ that currently security(8) doesn't
like that choice. I consider the complaint gratuitious and the
code to prevent it simple enough that i'd like to commit it.

Any OKs?
Ingo


Index: security
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/libexec/security/security,v
retrieving revision 1.36
diff -u -p -r1.36 security
--- security 21 Jul 2015 19:07:13 -0000 1.36
+++ security 23 Jan 2016 19:09:21 -0000
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ sub check_dot_writeable {
}
}

-# Mailboxes should be owned by the user and unreadable.
+# Mailboxes should be owned by the user, and readable by the user only.
sub check_mailboxes {
my $dir = '/var/mail';
nag !(opendir my $dh, $dir), "opendir: $dir: $!" and return;
@@ -464,7 +464,9 @@ sub check_mailboxes {
my $gname = (getgrgid $fgid)[0] // $fgid;
nag $fname ne $name,
"user $name mailbox is owned by $fname";
- nag S_IMODE($mode) != (S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR),
+ my $wantmode = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR;
+ $wantmode |= S_IXUSER if -d "$dir/$name";
+ nag S_IMODE($mode) != $wantmode,
sprintf 'user %s mailbox is %s, group %s',
$name, strmode($mode), $gname;
}

[Joerg Jung]

Post by Ingo Schwarze
Hi,
the smtpd(8) daemon supports "deliver to maildir" out of the box,
and even though putting the user maildirs below /var/mail/ is not
the default, it's one of many possible and logical choices, and i
see nothing wrong with it.

This was discussed several times before. The last one I remember
is [1].

Post by Ingo Schwarze
like that choice. I consider the complaint gratuitious and the
code to prevent it simple enough that i'd like to commit it.

Personally, I think it makes sense to stay restrictive with the check in
security and I moved away my maildirs from /var/mail years ago for this
reason. Maybe it should be documented in hier(7) that only mbox is
intended...

[1] http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=133460345221298&w=2

Post by Ingo Schwarze
Any OKs?
Ingo
Index: security
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/src/libexec/security/security,v
retrieving revision 1.36
diff -u -p -r1.36 security
--- security 21 Jul 2015 19:07:13 -0000 1.36
+++ security 23 Jan 2016 19:09:21 -0000
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ sub check_dot_writeable {
}
}
-# Mailboxes should be owned by the user and unreadable.
+# Mailboxes should be owned by the user, and readable by the user only.
sub check_mailboxes {
my $dir = '/var/mail';
nag !(opendir my $dh, $dir), "opendir: $dir: $!" and return;
@@ -464,7 +464,9 @@ sub check_mailboxes {
my $gname = (getgrgid $fgid)[0] // $fgid;
nag $fname ne $name,
"user $name mailbox is owned by $fname";
- nag S_IMODE($mode) != (S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR),
+ my $wantmode = S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR;
+ $wantmode |= S_IXUSER if -d "$dir/$name";
+ nag S_IMODE($mode) != $wantmode,
sprintf 'user %s mailbox is %s, group %s',
$name, strmode($mode), $gname;
}

[Craig Skinner]

Hi all,

Post by Joerg Jung
This was discussed several times before.

e.g: http://openbsd-archive.7691.n7.nabble.com/security-8-check-maildir-as-well-as-mailbox-permissions-td239848.html

[Ted Unangst]

Post by Ingo Schwarze
the smtpd(8) daemon supports "deliver to maildir" out of the box,
and even though putting the user maildirs below /var/mail/ is not
the default, it's one of many possible and logical choices, and i
see nothing wrong with it.

I think the possibility to fill up /var makes it a poor choice. Putting each
user's mail in their home directory is, imo, a more sensible choice. Now,
there are a dozen legacy reasons why we may not be able to do this by default,
but we should encourage anybody changing the defaults to avoid /var/mail.
Even traditional mail only uses /var as a queue, and then stores messages in
~/mbox.

In short, we can't simply drop /var/mail support, but if through inaction we
can discourage its use, then I vote for inaction.

[Craig Skinner]

Hi Ted,

Post by Ted Unangst
I think the possibility to fill up /var makes it a poor choice.

For mail servers, /var/mail/ can be a seperate mount point.

/var/log/ is commonly a mount point on servers.

As is /var/www/ /var/spool/{smtpd,postfix} /var/[fav-SQL-db], etc.