RE: PATCH: /dev/nvram cleanups.

Jones D (djones2@glam.ac.uk)
Thu, 29 Jul 1999 11:55:43 +0100


> > I think there's another reason for not decoding the upper
> > bytes though. Some BIOS's encode passwords there, which are
> > notoriously insecure. (Do a websearch for BIOS cracker)
> > If this interface were opened up to show the upper bytes,
> > the userspace app to decode them should only decode the
> > upper bytes if the user has the capabilities.
>
> I know about BIOS crackers, I have wriiten one myself. I
> don't think we
> should put the BIOS cracker into the nvram driver.

That's not what I meant.
What I meant was that normal users should be able to read the
fields that contain the encoded password.

> This is userspace thingy. The kernel should export just the
> raw bytes and probably a method for checking and setting the checksum.

Yes, I know.

d.

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