Results 1 to 3 of 3

Thread: What permissions for /dev/random

  1. #1

    What permissions for /dev/random

    I am surprised to find this file has permissions 660
    Is this correct or can I tighten it a bit?

    Also, permissions on /ysr/sbin/pwck are 755.
    Can I tighten this too?
    Last edited by howefield; July 29th, 2015 at 11:35 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    /dev/root
    Beans
    Hidden!

    Re: What permissions for /dev/random

    Have a look at the following and other descriptions found via the internet.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=/dev/random

    I'm not sure it is an improvement, if you change the permissions of /dev/random. It is a block device, and not the program, that is creating the random numbers.

    In Unix-like operating systems, /dev/random is a special file that serves as a blocking pseudorandom number generator. It allows access to environmental noise collected from device drivers and other sources.
    ...
    It is also possible to write to /dev/random. This allows any user to mix random data into the pool. Non-random data is harmless, because only a privileged user can issue the ioctl needed to increase the entropy estimate. The current amount of entropy and the size of the Linux kernel entropy pool are available in /proc/sys/kernel/random/, which can be displayed by the command cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail.
    Edit: About the other file and its permissions:

    pwck is an executable program, and only root can change it, which should be OK.
    Last edited by sudodus; November 30th, 2014 at 02:14 PM. Reason: about pwck

  3. #3

    Re: What permissions for /dev/random

    Thanks. Think ok - just frantic about secirity right now.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •