[PATCH] cifs: eliminate CONFIG_CIFS_WEAK_PW_HASH

simo idra at samba.org
Sat Jan 21 10:26:43 MST 2012


On Sat, 2012-01-21 at 07:37 -0500, Jeff Layton wrote: 
> On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:03:31 +1100
> Andrew Bartlett <abartlet at samba.org> wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, 2012-01-20 at 14:45 -0600, Steve French wrote:
> > > My general thinking on this is as follows:
> > > 
> > > If the kernel is distributed to all the workstations in an organization
> > > with this Kconfig option disabled, it makes it harder for individual users
> > > to make the mistake of enabling lanman (sec=lanman, or the Kconfig
> > > option) on a public network and thus send weak password hashes
> > > which could be discovered simply.   Most distros make the choice
> > > of enabling broader compatibility with old pre-1997 servers but
> > > it is a very small set of servers who would require lanman support,
> > > and a large number of potential attackers who could benefit if
> > > users enable lanman on a public network.  I suspect that there
> > > are environments where removing code (via Kconfig) is preferred
> > > to trusting all owners of all workstations running that organizations
> > > standard linux to never enable lanman at runtime.
> > > 
> > > But ... the opinion of security specialists on this would be welcome.
> > 
> > We have been though some of this with the kerberos libs, which now allow
> > (default?) to not even compile with weak crypto.  If the weak crypto is
> > not compiled in, it can therefore be asserted that the weak crypto
> > cannot be used, and this makes it easier to comply with security
> > audits/certification etc.
> > 
> > I don't want to make your code more complex than it needs to be, but LM
> > encryption really, really needs to go away.  If it is not a major
> > bother, I would like to make it easier for that to happen if possible.
> > 
> 
> The only way for it to go away completely is for all servers that
> support only that encryption to go away completely. Unfortunately,
> that's a tall order -- there are still at least some in the field and
> people need to get at data on them.

Jeff, can you identify them ?

LM only servers means pre Win 95 machines, I'd be curious to know what
servers are there that really support only LM hashes and not NT hashes.

Simo.

-- 
Simo Sorce
Samba Team GPL Compliance Officer <simo at samba.org>
Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat, Inc. <simo at redhat.com>



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