Provided by: rssh_2.3.4-7ubuntu0.1_amd64 bug

NAME

       rssh - restricted secure shell allowing only scp and/or sftp

SYNOPSIS

       rssh [ options... ] [ ... ]
       rssh -v

DESCRIPTION

       rssh  is  a restricted shell for providing limited access to a host via ssh(1), allowing a
       user whose shell is configured to rssh to use  one  or  more  of  the  command(s)  scp(1),
       sftp(1) cvs(1), rdist(1), and rsync(1), and only those commands.  It is intended primarily
       to  work  with  OpenSSH  (see   http://www.openssh.com),   but   may   work   with   other
       implementations.

       The  system  administrator  should  install  the shell on the restricted system.  Then the
       password file entry of any user for whom it is  desirable  to  provide  restricted  access
       should be edited, such that their shell is rssh. For example:

              luser:x:666:666::/home/luser:/usr/bin/rssh

       If  invoked  with  the  -v  option,  rssh  will  report  its version, and exit.  All other
       arguments to rssh are those specified by the remote ssh(1)  client,  and  aren't  of  much
       concern  to  the  average user.  The arguments provided must be what a shell on the remote
       end would receive in order to pass control to scp(1),  sftp(1),  etc.   If  rssh  receives
       arguments  which  do  not conform, it will emit an error message and exit.  If the program
       the user is trying to run is not allowed, or contains syntax which will try to  execute  a
       shell command (such as a command substitution), it will also emit an error and exit.

       rssh  has a configuration file, rssh.conf(5), which allows some of the behavior of rssh to
       be customized.  See that man page for details.

SECURITY NOTES

       Read this section with exceptional care, or you may put your system at risk!

   Using rssh With CVS
       If you are using rssh to allow CVS access, it should be noted that it is not  possible  to
       prevent  a  user  who  is  very familiar with CVS from bypassing rssh and getting a shell,
       unless the user does not have write access in the repository.  Obviously,  the  user  must
       have  write  access  to  the repository in order to update it, which allows them to upload
       arbitrary programs into the repository.  CVS provides  several  mechanisms  for  executing
       such  arbitrary  programs...   The only reasonably safe way to use rssh with CVS is to use
       the chroot jail facilities to place the CVS repository within a chroot jail.   Please  see
       below and all relevant documentation for details of how to set up chroot jails.  Note that
       users will still be able to get shell access within the jail; the only protection which is
       provided  is  that  they can not escape the jail.  I have been pursuaded to retain support
       for CVS because this protection is better than no protection.  You have been  warned.  Use
       CVS at your own risk.

   Potential root Compromise With Old Versions
       Before  rssh  2.3.0,  if  a  regular  user  had  shell  access to a machine where rssh was
       installed, a root compromise was possible due to rssh_chroot_helper  allowing  a  user  to
       arbitrarily  chroot(2)  to  anywhere  on  the filesystem.  It is possible to mitigate this
       attack against affected versions of rssh using strict access controls to files, by  making
       sure  that the user can not write to any file on the same partition as system executables,
       and that any partition where they can  write  files  does  not  allow  execution  of  SUID
       programs.   As  of  rssh  2.3.0,  this  attack  has been prevented by preventing arbitrary
       chroot(), if your jail is set up securely.  In particular, make sure  that  regular  users
       can  not  write  to  directories  inside the jail which contain the copied binaries.  That
       should be obvious, but it needs to be said.  Though it should not be  strictly  necessary,
       to  further  protect  your system from possible compromise, it is also advisable to follow
       the section below, entitled "Safeguards Against Bypassing rssh".

   Safeguards Against Bypassing rssh
       rssh is designed to interact with several other programs.  Even if rssh is completely bug-
       free,  changes  in those other programs could possibly result in methods to circumvent the
       protection that rssh is intended  to  provide.   It  is  important  for  you,  the  system
       administrator,  to  stay  current on the services you make available with rssh, to be sure
       that these commands do not provide mechanisms to allow the user to run arbitrary commands.
       Also,  while  the goal of every release is to be bug free, no one is perfect...  There may
       be undiscovered bugs in rssh which might allow a user to circumvent it.

       You can protect your system from those who would take advantage of such weaknesses.   This
       is  not  required  for rssh to work properly, but it is a really good idea.  There are six
       basic steps:

              1.     protect all non-administrator accounts  with  rssh  (i.e.  no  regular  user
                     should have shell access to the server)

              2.     place your users in a chroot jail

              3.     limit the binaries which live in the jail to the absolute minimum required

              4.     mount their home filesystem with the noexec/nosuid option (i.e. use separate
                     partitions in the jail for user home directories and  all  other  files,  if
                     possible/reasonable)

              5.     create  a  group for rssh users, and limit executable access to the binaries
                     to users in that group.

              6.     use standard file permissions carefully and appropriately

       If possible, make sure that no regular user has any kind of shell  access  to  the  system
       other  than  through  rssh.   Otherwise, users with shell access could potentially exploit
       undiscovered bugs in rssh_chroot_helper to gain root access to the server.

       rssh gives the system administrator the ability to place the users in a chroot jail.   See
       details in the man page for rssh.conf and in the file CHROOT which is distributed with the
       source code.  If you want to ensure users can not run arbitrary  programs,  use  a  chroot
       jail,  and  be  sure  not  to put any programs other than what are absolutely necessary to
       provide the service you are trying to provide.  This prevents them from  running  standard
       system commands.

       Then,  make  sure  the user's files inside the jail are on a separate filesystem from your
       system's executables.   If  possible  in  your  environment,  make  sure  you  mount  this
       filesystem  using  the  noexec and nosuid options, if your operating system provides them.
       This prevents the users from being able to execute programs which they  have  uploaded  to
       the target machine (e.g. using scp) which might otherwise be executable, and prevents SUID
       programs from respecting the SUID bits.  Note that these options  necessitate  the  users'
       files  are  on  separate partitions from the binaries and libraries that live in the jail.
       Therefore you will need at least 2 partitions for your jail to do this properly  (one  for
       the system binaries in the jail, the other for the user directories).

       Additionally,  create a group, for example "rsshuser", for rssh users.  Put all your users
       who will be restricted by rssh in that group.  Set the ownership and permissions  on  rssh
       and  rssh_chroot_helper so that only those users can execute them.  The following commands
       should illustrate:

              # groupadd rsshuser
              # chown root:rsshuser rssh rssh_chroot_helper
              # chmod 550 rssh
              # chmod 4550 rssh_chroot_helper

       Lastly, use standard Unix/POSIX file permissions to ensure they can not access files  they
       should not be able to within the chroot jail.

   Command Line Parser
       As  of  rssh  version 2.2.3, the program must parse out the complete command line to avoid
       command line options which cause the execution of arbitrary programs (and hence bypass the
       security  of rssh).  In order to keep the program source code sane, the parser is a little
       over-zealous about matching command line options.  In practice, this probably will not  be
       an issue, but in theory it is possible.

       If  you  run  into  a problem where rssh refuses to run, claiming to be rejecting insecure
       command line options which were not specified, try changing your command  line  such  that
       all  short options are specified as single-letter option flags (e.g. -e -p instead of -ep)
       and make sure you separate arguments from their respective options by a space (e.g. -p 123
       instead of -p123).  In virtually all cases, this should solve the problem.  Admittedly, an
       exhaustive search was not performed, but no problematical  cases  were  found  which  were
       likely to be common.

       The  alternative would have been to include a complete command-line parser for rcp, rdist,
       and rsync; this was way out of the scope of  this  project.   In  practice,  the  existing
       parser should suffice.  If, however, you find cases where it does not, please post details
       to the rssh mailing list.  Details about how to post to the mailing list can be  found  at
       the rssh homepage.

   OpenSSH Versions and Bypassing rssh
       Prior  to  OpenSSH  3.5,  sshd(8) will generally attempt to parse files in the user's home
       directory, and may also try to run a start-up script from the user's $HOME/.ssh directory.
       rssh  does  not  make  use  of the user's environment in any way.  The relevant command is
       executed by calling execv(3) with the full path to the command, as  specified  at  compile
       time.   It  does  not  depend  upon  the user's PATH variable, or on any other environment
       variable.

       There are, however, several problems that can arise.  This is due entirely to the way  the
       OpenSSH  Project's  sshd  works,  and  is  in  no way the fault of rssh.  For example, one
       problem which might exist is that, according to the sshd(8) man page from  at  least  some
       releases  of  OpenSSH,  the  commands  listed  in the $HOME/.ssh/rc file are executed with
       /bin/sh instead of the user's defined shell.  This appears not  to  be  the  case  on  the
       systems  the  author  had  available  to  test on; commands were executed using the user's
       configured shell (rssh), which did not allow the execution.  However if it is true on your
       system,  then  a  malicious  user  may  be  able to circumvent rssh by uploading a file to
       $HOME/.ssh/rc which will be executed by /bin/sh on  that  system.   If  any  releases  (of
       OpenSSH)  are,  in  fact, vulnerable to this problem, then it is very likely that they are
       only old, outdated versions.  So long as you are running a recent version of OpenSSH, this
       should not be a problem as far as I can tell.

       If  your sshd is vulnerable to this attack, there is a workaround for this problem, though
       it is pretty restrictive.  The user's home directory absolutely must not  be  writable  by
       the  user.  If it is, the user can use sftp to remove the directory or rename it, and then
       create a new one, and fill it up with whatever environment files they like.  For providing
       file uploads, this means a user-writable directory must be created for them, and they must
       be made aware of their inability to write into their home directory  other  than  in  this
       location.

       A   second   problem   is   that   after   authenticating   the   user,  sshd  also  reads
       $HOME/.ssh/environment to allow the user to set  variables  in  their  environment.   This
       allows  the  user to completely circumvent rssh by clever manipulation of such environment
       variables as LD_LIBRARY_PATH or LD_PRELOAD to  link  the  rssh  binary  against  arbitrary
       shared  libraries.  In order to prevent this from being a problem, as of version 0.9.3, by
       default rssh is now compiled statically.  The restrictive work-around mentioned above will
       also defeat this sort of attack.

       As of OpenSSH 3.5, sshd now supports the option PermitUserEnvironment which is set to "no"
       by default.  This option allows restricted shells like rssh to function  properly  without
       requiring  them  to  be linked statically.  As of rssh version 1.0.1, the configure script
       should detect that OpenSSH 3.5 is present, and disable the default of static compilation.

BUGS

       None.  =8^)

   A Note About Getting Help
       If you are having trouble getting rssh working, or you think you've found  a  bug,  please
       use  the  mailing  list,  and do not e-mail me directly.  You must sign up for the list in
       order to post.  Information about how to sign up is available on the  rssh  homepage.   If
       you  mail  me  directly with questions, I will almost certainly ignore you, or at the very
       least ask you to repost your question on the mailing  list.   Please  also  feel  free  to
       provide  feedback about rssh on the mailing list, whether positive or negative (especially
       negative).

   Security Problems
       The only exception to the above is if you believe you have found a security  problem  with
       rssh.   If  that  is  the case, then please do contact me privately.  If you are unable to
       find my direct contact info, post a message on the mailing list requesting that I  contact
       you about a potential security problem.  Security problems should be dealt with privately,
       so that the threat can be properly assessed, and so as  not  to  needlessly  endanger  the
       installations of rssh in production environments.  I take security problems seriously, and
       will work to resolve them as quickly as possible.

   N.B.:
       Before you e-mail me (or the mailing list) with questions, be sure to THOROUGHLY read  all
       of  the  following  files:  README,  INSTALL,  CHROOT,  SECURITY.   All of these files are
       distributed with the rssh source code, as well as all binary packages  of  rssh.   If  you
       downloaded  a  binary  package,  these  files should be located wherever your distribution
       keeps its documentation files (usually /usr/share/doc/rssh-version/ or something similar).
       Also  THOROUGHLY  read  the  man pages for rssh(1), and rssh.conf(5).  Finally, if you are
       still having problems, read the FAQ at http://www.pizzashack.org/rssh/faq.shtml.  If it is
       clear  to  me  that  you have not read these documents, I will ignore you.  In most cases,
       these documents will already have everything you need to get rssh working, and I won't  be
       able to explain it any better on a mailing list than I did in those documents...

SEE ALSO

       rssh.conf(5), sshd(8), ssh(1), scp(1), sftp(1).