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The Debian System -- Concepts and Techniques

Martin F. Krafft — Open Source Press / No Starch Press — ISBN 3-937514-07-4 / 1-593270-69-0

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Faulty way of spawning sshd in single-user mode (page 299)

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Reported on: 2006-10-22

In chapter 6. Debian system administration on page 299:

In chapter 6.3.1, I suggest to add sshd to the /etc/inittab file to be able to login to a remote system even in single-user mode:

# sed -i -e "/^~~/ish:S:respawn:sshd -Do 'AllowUsers=root'" /etc/inittab

Unfortunately, there are two errors with this: first, sshd must be called with the complete path (to guard against trojans), and init must be told to reload the configuration file after the change.

The following corrects both problems:

# sed -i -e "/^~~/ish:S:respawn:/usr/sbin/sshd -Do 'AllowUsers=root'" /etc/inittab
# telinit q

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Abhijeet Chavan, Urban Insight, Inc.: I liked Krafft's precise, straight-to-the-point writing style. He makes basic as well as advanced topics readable without coming across as either condescending or cryptic. The terse footnotes are useful and supplement the text with interesting tips and resources. This is a technical book for sure, without fluff or off-topic detours, and it's packed with information. Still, Krafft manages to impart a personal feel by sharing his observations and balanced opinions. He delivers frank assessments of the strengths, weaknesses and eccentricities of a Debian system. In fact, the book even includes an appendix on how to decide if Debian is the right GNU/Linux distribution for you.

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