Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH] vnc: refuse to set a password with VNC_AUTH_NONE

[Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>]

Il 11/12/2013 17:29, Gerd Hoffmann ha scritto:
> On Mi, 2013-12-11 at 17:06 +0100, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
>> Il 11/12/2013 16:54, Gerd Hoffmann ha scritto:
>>> Current code silently changes the authentication settings
>>> in case you try to set a password without password authentication
>>> turned on.  This is bad.  Return an error instead.
>>>
>>> If we want allow changing auth settings at runtime this should
>>> be done explicitly using a separate monitor command, not as
>>> side effect of set_passwd.
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Gerd Hoffmann <kraxel@redhat.com>
>>
>> Isn't this backwards-incompatible?
> 
> Yes.  I think it is the correct thing nevertheless.

Fine by me, let's just make sure we document it well.  Can you start the
2.0 changelog wiki page?

> Users which want a passwort protected guests should configure vnc
> correctly to avoid a unprotected window between qemu start and setting
> the password.
> 
> Also note that enabling passwd auth via "set_passwd" side-effect
> bypasses fips restrictions.

That'd be a clear bug, even one that could be fixed in stable versions.

Paolo

> So this is a clear security improvement IMHO.
> 
> cheers,
>   Gerd
> 
> 
>