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bug #20786: Gmail user password is stored in cleartext

Submitted by:  None
Submitted on:  Tue 14 Aug 2007 08:32:41 PM UTC  
 
Severity: 6 - SecurityStatus: Not a Bug
Privacy: PublicAssigned to: None
Originator Name: MYWOriginator Email: -unavailable-
Open/Closed: Closed

Fri 17 Aug 2007 09:16:15 PM UTC, comment #5:

Thank you for the explanation and reference. As was the case with the original bug submitter, we simply disagree at a basic level.

I appreciate your advice about GnomeVFS very much. It is precisely the kind of solution I was seeking. I appreciate your thoroughness in this matter, despite your disagreements with it: it is the mark of a serious developer.

I also appreciate that you've designed MN in a way that allows its users a choice.

Thanks again for all your time.

Anonymous
Fri 17 Aug 2007 11:02:39 AM UTC, comment #4:

For reference, this bug entry:

https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?18893

Jean-Yves Lefort <jylefort>
Project Administrator
Fri 17 Aug 2007 10:57:39 AM UTC, comment #3:

I did not pick the easiest example. If root wants your password, he can patch MN so that it appends your password to a file of his convenience (two lines of code required), then recompile and reinstall MN. Trying to protect against root is futile.

Anyway, if you do not set the password in the MN properties, MN does not store it to disk, and in the Gmail case the password then falls under GnomeVFS and (IIRC) gnome-keyring management, which provides encryption. I find the gnome-keyring approach rather ridiculous (as discussed in another bug entry I can't find back), but if it makes you sleep better, go for it.

Jean-Yves Lefort <jylefort>
Project Administrator
Fri 17 Aug 2007 05:50:27 AM UTC, comment #2:

This is true, but that would be a lot harder to do than just read a plaintext file.

Most locks are put on doors "to keep honest men honest." Leaving the password in this file as cleartext is like leaving your door wide open, allowing anyone who looks at your house to enter.

Just because there's no way to prevent something from happening in the worst case doesn't mean one shouldn't control the average case.

Anonymous
Tue 14 Aug 2007 08:44:19 PM UTC, comment #1:

There is no way to prevent root from obtaining your password. Even if it was encrypted on disk, root could still read the MN process memory after MN has decrypted the password.

Jean-Yves Lefort <jylefort>
Project Administrator
Tue 14 Aug 2007 08:32:41 PM UTC, original submission:

For Gmail accounts, the user password is stored in cleartext in the file $HOME/.gnome2/mail-notification/mailboxes.xml . The password is thus visible to anyone with sudo or root access on the system, which makes mail-notification unusable for gmail on multiuser systems from a security standpoint, especially since users often use high-risk passwords for their Gmail accounts.

Any encryption scheme for the password would suffice to fix this problem.

If other passwords are stored in cleartext, that should also be remedied.

Anonymous

 

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  • -unavailable- added by jylefort (Posted a comment)
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    Follow 2 latest changes.

    Date Changed By Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced By
    Tue 14 Aug 2007 08:44:19 PM UTCjylefortStatusNone=>Not a Bug
      Open/ClosedOpen=>Closed

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