Re: [Xen-devel] Individual passwords for guest VNC servers ?

To:	"Daniel P. Berrange" <berrange@xxxxxxxxxx>
Subject:	Re: [Xen-devel] Individual passwords for guest VNC servers ?
From:	"George Dunlap " <dunlapg@xxxxxxxxx>
Date:	Thu, 31 Aug 2006 11:43:22 -0400
Cc:	xen-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Masami Watanabe <masami.watanabe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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On 8/30/06, Daniel P. Berrange <berrange@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I think we should be secure by default - if they omit the password then
we should either generate one - and store it in xenstore, or refuse to
activate VNC server. If we really really want to allow no passwords, then
admin could have to explicitly request it with vnc_no_password=1
in the config file - but my prefernce is still that we should flat out
refuse to allow an empty password - in this day & day its just plain wrong.
RealVNC server for example, refuses to allow empty password.


IMHO this kind of "I'll make you do this for your own good" is a bug,
not a feature.

When I run a VNC server, I typically have it bound to accept
connections only from localhost, then I SSH tunnel in.  I'm the only
one using the box, so I know that no one else can log in. Being forced
to have a password when I'm already using much stronger authentication
is an annoyance and a waste of my time.

You can imagine other situations where the administrator knows that
having no password is as secure as he needs it-- on an internal
network or VPN, for instance.  Or, a single user on a local machine.
If I've got the box sitting in front of me, no one else can log in,
and I type "xm create -f hvm.cfg", why should I have to type a
password?

Having the "vnc_no_password" option is my preference; it encourages
right behavior where appropriate, but leaves the administrator the
option to make an informed decision.

-George

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