SECURITY NOTE 

Al Woodhull <awoodhull@hampshire.edu> 2003-07-05

Running a web server is fun, but it's also not without risks.  If, like
many Minix users, you are a guest on someone else's network, you need
to be very careful to operate your server in ways that will not put
your system at risk or interfere with others on the net.  Here are some
points to consider: 

- Be sure to touch /usr/adm/httpd.log (or whatever you specify as the log
file in httpd.conf) before you start your web server for the first time
-- nothing will be logged if the log file does not exist.  Then look at 
your log file frequently and be alert for any unusual activity.  

- You may also want to be sure that tcpd is configured to operate in
PARANOID mode.  That will enable logging of connection attempts and
allow you to use the serv.access (5) file to limit the kinds of
connections that your system allows.

- If you enable proxy webserving, be very careful, it can be used by
people you don't know to visit sites that don't welcome visitors whose
identity is hidden.  This may cause your network host and ultimately you 
some unpleasantness.

- The Minix httpd can also support CGI applications.  These are also
dangerous -- a CGI application allows someone else to execute a program
on your computer.  Make sure anything you allow this way cannot be
abused. Many security violations are due to effects of input that was not 
expected by the original author of a program.

- It's an understatement to say that Minix is not a well-known 
operating system.  There are not many Minix systems operating as
servers on the internet.  A consequence of this is that there few, if
any, people engaged in finding ways to attack weaknesses in Minix.  But
the idea of "security through obscurity" is deprecated by serious
computer security experts.  Any operating system or program of any
degree of complexity is likely to have bugs or features that can be
exploited in ways the original programmers did not foresee.  You can't
count on the "good guys" being the first ones to discover a risk.
There are two things you should be sure to do if you are running a
network server of any kind: 

(1) be alert for new versions of the program that may fix bugs
discovered by other users, and 

(2) be sure to report to the program author or maintainer anything you
observe that looks like a bug or a way the program can be misused.
