The X Windowing System - Revision history

Manselnj at 02:52, 14 April 2008

2008-04-14T02:52:23Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:52, 14 April 2008
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	==XHosts==		==XHosts==
-	Another utility to help with security of the X Windowing system is the xhost tool. This tool operates in two modes called plus(+) and minus (-). Plus mode will	+	Another utility to help with security of the X Windowing system is the xhost tool. This tool operates in two modes called plus(+) and minus (-). Plus mode will allow any X Client to connect to the X Host. Obviously this is a very insecure mode. A more secure mode is the minus mode. Using this mode, only hosts on the trusted list are allowed to connect. Hosts can be added and removed from the trusted list through xauth +/-<host name>.

	= References =		= References =

Manselnj: /* XHosts */

2008-04-14T02:50:02Z

XHosts

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:50, 14 April 2008
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	==XHosts==		==XHosts==
		+	Another utility to help with security of the X Windowing system is the xhost tool. This tool operates in two modes called plus(+) and minus (-). Plus mode will

	= References =		= References =

Manselnj: /* XAuth */

2008-04-14T02:15:42Z

XAuth

← Older revision		Revision as of 02:15, 14 April 2008
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	==XAuth==		==XAuth==
-	One utility to help with security which comes with the X Windowing system is xauth. This tool operates works with MIT Magic Cookies. The way it works is when you start up an X Windowing host, it will create a Magic Cookie which is just a hexidecimal string. This cookie is stored in the	+	One utility to help with security which comes with the X Windowing system is xauth. This tool operates works with MIT Magic Cookies. The way it works is when you start up an X Windowing host, it will create a Magic Cookie which is just a hexidecimal string. This cookie is stored in the file $HOME/.Xauthority of the client machine. This file contains a list of hosts, displays and magic cookies. When the client connects to the host on a specific display, it sends the corresponding Magic Cookie. If the Magic Cookie matches the host's cookie, then the host accepts the connection.

	==XHosts==		==XHosts==

Manselnj: /* XAuth */

2008-04-14T01:34:49Z

XAuth

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:34, 14 April 2008
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	==XAuth==		==XAuth==
		+	One utility to help with security which comes with the X Windowing system is xauth. This tool operates works with MIT Magic Cookies. The way it works is when you start up an X Windowing host, it will create a Magic Cookie which is just a hexidecimal string. This cookie is stored in the

	==XHosts==		==XHosts==

Manselnj at 01:31, 14 April 2008

2008-04-14T01:31:30Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:31, 14 April 2008
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	* There is one last message which is sent between X clients and X hosts. If there is any error on the X host, there needs to be a way for the host to tell the client that the error occurred. This is taken care of by the error response message. This message is the same size as a normal event response message, but is sent to the error handling routine of the X client.		* There is one last message which is sent between X clients and X hosts. If there is any error on the X host, there needs to be a way for the host to tell the client that the error occurred. This is taken care of by the error response message. This message is the same size as a normal event response message, but is sent to the error handling routine of the X client.

-	~~=== Authorization Protocols ===~~
-	~~====MIT Magic-Cookie-1====~~
-	~~====XDM Authorization====~~
	=Security=		=Security=
	There are several ways in which security is a major concern when using the X Windowing system. These can concerns can be broken up into two major categories: interception of communications between the X client and X host, and having a malignant client connect to your host. The communication security can be handled by tunneling the communication between the X host and X client through a more secure protocol such as ssh. The malignant client concern can be handled by using tools distributed with the X Windowing system: XAuth and XHosts.		There are several ways in which security is a major concern when using the X Windowing system. These can concerns can be broken up into two major categories: interception of communications between the X client and X host, and having a malignant client connect to your host. The communication security can be handled by tunneling the communication between the X host and X client through a more secure protocol such as ssh. The malignant client concern can be handled by using tools distributed with the X Windowing system: XAuth and XHosts.

Manselnj: /* External Links */

2008-04-14T01:31:10Z

External Links

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:31, 14 April 2008
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	=External Links=		=External Links=
	* [http://www.xfree86.org/ http://www.xfree86.org/]		* [http://www.xfree86.org/ http://www.xfree86.org/]
		+	* [http://www.x.org/wiki/ http://www.x.org/wiki/]

	= See Also =		= See Also =

Manselnj: /* External Links */

2008-04-14T01:30:28Z

External Links

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:30, 14 April 2008
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	=External Links=		=External Links=
-	*	+	* [http://www.xfree86.org/ http://www.xfree86.org/]

	= See Also =		= See Also =

Manselnj: /* References */

2008-04-14T01:29:40Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:29, 14 April 2008
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	= References =		= References =
	# [http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html]		# [http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html]
-	# [http://www.xfree86.org/4.4.0/xauth.1.html]	+	# [http://www.xfree86.org/4.4.0/xauth.1.html http://www.xfree86.org/4.4.0/xauth.1.html]
-	# [http://www.xfree86.org/current/xhost.1.html]	+	# [http://www.xfree86.org/current/xhost.1.html http://www.xfree86.org/current/xhost.1.html]
-	# [http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cxh/sapub/Xsecurity.html]	+	# [http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cxh/sapub/Xsecurity.html http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cxh/sapub/Xsecurity.html]
-	# [http://www.xfree86.org/current/Xsecurity.7.html]	+	# [http://www.xfree86.org/current/Xsecurity.7.html http://www.xfree86.org/current/Xsecurity.7.html]

	=External Links=		=External Links=

Manselnj: /* References */

2008-04-14T01:28:57Z

References

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:28, 14 April 2008
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	= References =		= References =
	# [http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html]		# [http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html http://www.javvin.com/protocolXWindow.html]
		+	# [http://www.xfree86.org/4.4.0/xauth.1.html]
		+	# [http://www.xfree86.org/current/xhost.1.html]
		+	# [http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cxh/sapub/Xsecurity.html]
		+	# [http://www.xfree86.org/current/Xsecurity.7.html]

	=External Links=		=External Links=

Manselnj: /* Communication Security and Tunneling Through SSH */

2008-04-14T01:15:16Z

Communication Security and Tunneling Through SSH

← Older revision		Revision as of 01:15, 14 April 2008
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	==Communication Security and Tunneling Through SSH==		==Communication Security and Tunneling Through SSH==
	Depending on how an X Client connects to an X Host, there can be some major security issues. When used by itself through a non-secure connection, the X Windowing system will send all of it's data unencrypted across the network you are using. Depending how many people have access to the network, this can be a huge security issue. Everything from passwords to possibly confidential documents are sent essentially unencrypted across the network which allows anyone to view them.		Depending on how an X Client connects to an X Host, there can be some major security issues. When used by itself through a non-secure connection, the X Windowing system will send all of it's data unencrypted across the network you are using. Depending how many people have access to the network, this can be a huge security issue. Everything from passwords to possibly confidential documents are sent essentially unencrypted across the network which allows anyone to view them.
-	<BR> One possible solution to this problem is to tunnel through a more secure communication medium, such as ssh. To see more on tunneling, please see one of the following articles: [[Applications_of_SSH#SSH_Tunneling \| Applications of SSH]], [[SSH Tunneling]]	+	<BR> One possible solution to this problem is to tunnel through a more secure communication medium, such as ssh. By embedding X Window messages in SSH datagrams, the X Window messages will then be encrypted within the SSH message. To see more on tunneling, please see one of the following articles: [[Applications_of_SSH#SSH_Tunneling \| Applications of SSH]], [[SSH Tunneling]]

	==XAuth==		==XAuth==