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0 pointsrtpg8y ago0 comments

But at one point a root account is created with an empty password right?

There's a specific line somewhere that's doing this, in theory.

Maybe they should have opted for "create `root` with unguessable password"

0 comments

No, that's a hack. And it opens new attacks, like on the hashing algorithm and poor randomness or predictability in the generation logic.

LeifCarrotson8y ago

You have some pretty high standards. Being imperfect doesn't automatically make it better than the alternative of not doing it.

If the system can't generate a secure hash, or can't generate cryptographically random numbers, you're in serious trouble. Those tools are foundational to security.

Moving the problem from "a root account is created with the first password you try" to "you have to break crypt(1) or /dev/random" is basically equivalent to solving it.

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