syslogd.8: Update section on SECURITY and .conf differences

- We have the -a PEER and -s to limit exposure to remote attacks
- Mention include file syntax in .conf file differences section
- Mention SECURITY section in BUGS, there are countermeasures

Signed-off-by: Joachim Nilsson <troglobit@gmail.com>
This commit is contained in:
Joachim Nilsson 2019-11-15 09:40:37 +01:00
parent 8dda39c382
commit 49968d977e

View File

@ -67,7 +67,6 @@ and
.Xr syslogp 3
API in
.Lb libsyslog ,
this version of
.Nm
interacts transparently with the standard C library
.Xr syslog 3
@ -257,40 +256,44 @@ keep time properly or are unable to generate a correct timestamp.
Print
.Nm
version and exit.
.Sh CONFIGURATION FILE SYNTAX DIFFERENCES
.Sh CONFIGURATION FILE DIFFERENCES
.Nm
uses a slightly different syntax for its configuration file than the
original BSD sources. First, rules may now also have a third field
original BSD sources.
.Pp
First, rules may now also have a third field
.Cm ;OPTION .
Several options are supported, comma separated, that control formatting
and log rotation, for more on this see
.Xr syslog.conf 5 .
Second, originally all messages of a specific priority and above were
forwarded to the log file.
.Pp
For example the following line send all output from daemons using the
daemon facilities (debug is the lowest priority, so every higher will
also match) to go into
Second, other files may be included using a
.Xr glob 7
style syntax, e.g.
.Ql include /path/to/*.conf .
.Pp
Third, originally all messages of a specific priority and above were
forwarded to the log file. For example the following line send all
output from daemons using the daemon facilities (debug is the lowest
priority, so every higher will also match) to go into
.Pa /var/log/daemons :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
# Sample syslog.conf
daemon.debug /var/log/daemons
.Ed
.Pp
With
.Nm
this behavior remains the same. The difference is the addition of four
additional specifiers, the asterisk ('*') wildcard, the equation sign
('='), the exclamation mark ('!'), and the minus sign ('-').
still supports this, with the addition of four additional specifiers,
the asterisk ('*') wildcard, the equation sign ('='), the exclamation
mark ('!'), and the minus sign ('-').
.Pp
The '*' specifies that all messages for the specified facility are to be
directed to the destination. Note that this behavior is degenerate with
specifying a priority level of debug. Users have indicated that the
asterisk notation is more intuitive.
.Pp
The '=' wildcard is used to restrict logging to the specified priority
class. This allows, for example, routing only debug messages to a
particular logging source.
The '=' restricts logging to the specified priority class. This allows,
for example, routing only debug messages to a particular logging source.
.Pp
For example, the following line in
.Pa /etc/syslog.conf
@ -452,6 +455,15 @@ programs or individuals on the local machine.
There are a number of methods of protecting a machine:
.Bl -enum
.It
Disabling inet domain sockets will limit risk to the local machine. Use
the secore mode flag
.Fl s
for this.
.It
Only allow certain remote peers using the
.Fl a Ar PEER
flag.
.It
Implement kernel firewalling to limit which hosts or networks have
access to the 514/UDP socket.
.It
@ -460,15 +472,6 @@ if filled, will not impair the machine.
.It
The ext2 filesystem can be used which can be configured to limit a
certain percentage of a filesystem to usage by root only.
.Sy NOTE:
this requires
.Nm
to be run as a non-root process. Also, this prevents usage of remote
logging since
.Nm
will be unable to bind to the 514/UDP socket.
.It
Disabling inet domain sockets will limit risk to the local machine.
.El
.Sh DEBUGGING
When debug mode (
@ -571,7 +574,9 @@ unauthenticated remote disk-filling service, and should probably be
disabled
.Fl ( s )
by default. (The shipped systemd unit file disables this by default.)
A future version of
See also
.Sx SECURITY
for more information on this. A future version of
.Nm
may include support for TLS, RFC5425, which includes authentication of
both senders and receivers.
@ -584,19 +589,6 @@ transparently supports the standard C library
API. If a binary linked to the standard C libraries does not operate
correctly, this should be reported as a bug to this project. See below
for contact details.
.Pp
.Nm
doesn't change the file mode of opened log files at any stage. If a
file is created it is world readable. If you want to avoid this, you
have to create it and change permissions on your own. This could be
done in combination with rotating logfiles using the
.Xr savelog 8
program that is shipped in the
.Nm smail
3.x distribution. Remember that it might be a security hole if
everybody is able to read
.Ql auth.*
messages as these might contain passwords.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr syslog.conf 5 ,
.Xr klogd 8 ,