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Re: Terminals in X Window System.

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On 13.03.2025 08:28 Uhr peter@easthope.ca wrote:

> Marco, Richard & all,
> 
> In article <20250312170838.7d5b1e1c@ryz.dorfdsl.de>, Marco Moock
> <mm@dorfdsl.de> wrote: 
> > It gives me
> > m@ryz:~$ xterm localhost
> > xterm: No absolute path found for shell: localhost
> > 
> > Is that what you ran?  
> 
> Correction: I should have asked, is "telnet localhost" less secure 
> than "xterm"?

Completely different stuff. xterm just opens a terminal emulator on
your system. telnet connects to a telnet server, usually a remote
system.

> > telnet offers you to login if a telnet server is running.  
> 
> In Debian,
> # grep ^telnet /etc/inetd.conf
> telnet stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/telnetd -E
> /bin/bash
> 
> Nobody other than me has an account on the system.  I authenticate 
> after the system boots or when returning after logout. Neither
> "telnet localhost" nor "xterm" asks for a password.

If telnet doesn't ask for a password, this is a security problem if
other people (locally or remote) can access the telnet server.

> > As long this connection is only inside your system, this is 
> > secure. If it is going outside, you need to have an underlaying 
> > protocol (IPsec or a VPN tunnel) to avoid eavesdropping, as normal 
> > telnet is not encrypted.  
> 
> Shorewall is configured to prevent a telnet connection from outside 
> localhost.
> 
> So my configuration is unusual but not particularly hazardous?

As long as it stays so, it is. But when other people can access it,
they can take over control of your system.

Now a really stupid question: Why do you need a local telnet server?
Isn't xterm, and if needed, su, enough?

-- 
kind regards
Marco

Send spam to 1741850935muell@stinkedores.dorfdsl.de

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Thread

Terminals in X Window System. peter@easthope.ca - 2025-03-12 06:41 -0700
  Re: Terminals in X Window System. Marco Moock <mm@dorfdsl.de> - 2025-03-12 17:08 +0100
    Re: Terminals in X Window System. Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2025-03-12 19:31 +0000
    Re: Terminals in X Window System. peter@easthope.ca - 2025-03-13 08:28 -0700
      Re: Terminals in X Window System. Marco Moock <mm@dorfdsl.de> - 2025-03-13 20:10 +0100
        Re: Terminals in X Window System. Grant Taylor <gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net> - 2025-03-13 21:38 -0500
        Re (2): Terminals in X Window System. peter@easthope.ca - 2025-03-14 13:09 -0700
          Re: Re (2): Terminals in X Window System. Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2025-03-14 21:04 +0000
            Re (3): Terminals in X Window System. peter@easthope.ca - 2025-03-16 08:21 -0700
              Re: Re (3): Terminals in X Window System. Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2025-03-16 16:13 +0000
        Re: Terminals in X Window System. William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2025-03-19 15:52 +0000
      Re: Terminals in X Window System. Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2025-03-13 21:11 +0000
        Re: Terminals in X Window System. peter@easthope.ca - 2025-03-23 11:23 -0700
          Re: Terminals in X Window System. Richard Kettlewell <invalid@invalid.invalid> - 2025-03-23 19:34 +0000
            Re (2): Terminals in X Window System. peter@easthope.ca - 2025-03-23 22:02 -0700
          Re: Terminals in X Window System. William Unruh <unruh@invalid.ca> - 2025-03-26 06:02 +0000

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