CUPS Administrator Password

[TxTechnician]

Do I need to define the root password? AFAIK there isn’t one by defualt

[deano_ferrari]

By default the CUPS system group is root (defined in /etc/cups/cups-files.conf), so the root password is applicable.

[gogalthorp]

by default the root password is the same as the first users password unless set different

[hcvv]

@gogalthorp

unless set different

Which I would strongly advise.

[pavinjoseph]

I believe there was an unchecked option to create separate root password in the installer.
Could you confirm this?

Also, could you describe the security benefits of a different password for root?
If my normal user with sudo privileges get hacked it can still lead to privilege escalation right?

[hui]

@pavinjoseph

Could you confirm this?

Installation steps | openSUSE Leap 15.5

@pavinjoseph

Also, could you describe the security benefits of a different password for root?

Two different passwords increase security by default. root tasks/accounts should always be seperated from normal user tasks/accounts. ONLY use elevated rights for really necessary administration tasks.

@pavinjoseph

If my normal user with sudo privileges get hacked it can still lead to privilege escalation right?

The standard setup under openSUSE is that you need to provide the root password for sudo. So if you have different passwords, a compromised user account does not lead to a privilege escalation as the root pw is still unknown to the attacker. Having the same pw for user and root makes it easier for an attacker to take over your machine.

[hcvv]

@pavinjoseph

I believe there was an unchecked option to create separate root password in the installer.
Could you confirm this?

I do not know if it is checked or unchecked by default. In any case the default leads to having the same password for root as for the user created at installation. It is so already for years and a pain in the … for many with any knowledge of Unix/Linux and security.

[pavinjoseph]

@hui

The standard setup under openSUSE is that you need to provide the root password for sudo. So if you have different passwords, a compromised user account does not lead to a privilege escalation as the root pw is still unknown to the attacker.

Oh, I did not know this. I always thought sudo asked for user password.
It seems to be the default after a cursory internet search, not sure how Suse overrides this behavior, perhaps Suse uses its own patched version of sudo?

[malcolmlewis]

@pavinjoseph the default is checked, but there is minimal configuration for sudo in openSUSE, as in not necessarily configured as on some other distributions. I think there were some sudo changes recently, but since it’s only ever used for one task here (building packages with osc), YMMV.

[hcvv]

@pavinjoseph

I always thought sudo asked for user password.

The question is: for which password.

In some configurations it asks for the password of the user typing the sudo command, to confirm it is still him and not some imposter that walks by.

In other configurations it asks for the root password. But when both are the same, it is then difficult to see the difference

BTW, having the same password for root and that infamous user, is not specific to sudo. (I never use sudo). But it influences of course also sudo when used to “become root”.