hosts.equiv man page on MirBSD

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HOSTS.EQUIV(5)		     BSD Reference Manual		HOSTS.EQUIV(5)

NAME
     hosts.equiv, .rhosts - trusted remote hosts and host-user pairs

DESCRIPTION
     The hosts.equiv and .rhosts files list hosts and users which are
     "trusted" by the local host when a connection is made via rshd(8), or any
     other server that uses ruserok(3). This mechanism bypasses password
     checks, and is required for access via rsh(1).

     Each line of these files has the format:

	   hostname [username]

     The hostname may be specified as a host name (typically a fully qualified
     host name in a DNS environment) or address, +@netgroup (from which only
     the host names are checked), or a '+' wildcard (allow all hosts).

     The username, if specified, may be given as a user name on the remote
     host, +@netgroup (from which only the user names are checked), or a '+'
     wildcard (allow all remote users).

     If a username is specified, only that user from the specified host may
     login to the local machine. If a username is not specified, any user may
     login with the same user name.

EXAMPLES
     somehost
	   A common usage; users on somehost may login to the local host as
	   the same user name.
     somehost username
	   The user username on somehost may login to the local host. If
	   specified in /etc/hosts.equiv, the user may login with only the
	   same user name.
     +@anetgroup username
	   The user username may login to the local host from any machine
	   listed in the netgroup anetgroup.
     +
     + +
	   Two severe security hazards. In the first case, allows a user on
	   any machine to login to the local host as the same user name. In
	   the second case, allows any user on any machine to login to the lo-
	   cal host (as any user, if in /etc/hosts.equiv).

WARNINGS
     The user name checks provided by this mechanism are not secure, as the
     remote user name is received by the server unchecked for validity. There-
     fore this mechanism should only be used in an environment where all hosts
     are completely trusted.

     A numeric host address instead of a host name can help security con-
     siderations somewhat; the address is then used directly by iruserok(3).

     When a user name (or netgroup, or '+') is specified in /etc/hosts.equiv,
     that user (or group of users, or all users, respectively) may login to
     the local host as any local user. Usernames in /etc/hosts.equiv should
     therefore be used with extreme caution, or not at all.

     A .rhosts file must be owned by the user whose home directory it resides
     in, and must be writable only by that user.

     Logins as root only check root's .rhosts file; the /etc/hosts.equiv file
     is not checked for security. Access permitted through root's .rhosts file
     is typically only for rsh(1).

FILES
     /etc/hosts.equiv  global trusted host-user pairs list
     ~/.rhosts	       per-user trusted host-user pairs list

SEE ALSO
     rcp(1), rsh(1), rcmd(3), ruserok(3), netgroup(5)

HISTORY
     The .rhosts file format appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
     The ruserok(3) implementation currently skips negative entries (preceded
     with a '-' sign) and does not treat them as "short-circuit" negative en-
     tries.

MirOS BSD #10-current	      November 26, 1997				     1
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