Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tektronix!tekecs!frip!andrew
From: andrew@frip.gwd.tek.com (Andrew Klossner)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Mounting floppies
Message-ID: <10652@tekecs.TEK.COM>
Date: 19 Nov 88 01:25:38 GMT
References: <129@minya.UUCP>
Sender: andrew@tekecs.TEK.COM
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville, Oregon
Lines: 20

[]

	"Is there some reason (other than bureaucratic perversity) that
	the Sys/V mount command won't do its job when the /dev and the
	directory have write permissions?"

Being able to mount a floppy is a far more powerful thing that being
able to read or write the floppy.  For example, you could prepare the
floppy so that it contains a file system with a suid-root shell, using
only floppy read/write (or on a PC).  Hence, whoever can mount the
floppy has the equivalent of root powers; so the mount syscall is
restricted to root.

If you don't need this restriction on your workstation, make /etc/mount
a suid-root executable by all.  (This works on my 4.2BSD-based
workstation; I haven't tried it on sysV.)  No need for suid shell
scripts or special programs.

  -=- Andrew Klossner   (uunet!tektronix!hammer!frip!andrew)    [UUCP]
                        (andrew%frip.gwd.tek.com@relay.cs.net)  [ARPA]