[PLUG] Mount cifs share from fstab.

[Smith, Cathy]

I work in a multi-user environment where authentication is performed by Kerberos.  So all user accounts in the Active Directory domain, use their AD password to login to the Linux servers.   The Linux server is configured as a samba server.   We run Red Hat here.   I just have a basic samba server configuration running on the Linux server.  I don't have to have the account's password specified as long as the account is in the AD domain.  We only use the .sambpass file for non-AD accounts.  Those account must have a local password entry on the Linux server.

Cathy
-- 
Cathy L. Smith
IT Engineer

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Operated by Battelle for the 
U.S. Department of Energy

Phone: 509.375.2687
Fax:       509.375.4399
Email: cathy.smith at pnnl.gov



-----Original Message-----
From: plug-bounces at pdxlinux.org [mailto:plug-bounces at pdxlinux.org] On Behalf Of Tomas Kuchta
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2017 4:35 PM
To: Portland Linux/Unix Group <plug at pdxlinux.org>
Subject: Re: [PLUG] Mount cifs share from fstab.

When you put SMB password into root RO file, it is not secure locally, but it is not transmitted over the network in the plain text as far as I know.

In my experience, SMB/CIFS is quie painful to use in multi user, multi machine world without domain compatible single sign of.

To be fair, same goes for NFS with Kerberos, if you cannot live without server side authentication.

Off topic:
In my opinion - single sign on should be basic stuff done by any ..nix household chiefdom setup for both Linux and Windows. Once working, it makes huge difference in usability and security. And it currently keeps M$ away from local network resource scans.

-T

On Dec 4, 2017 3:47 PM, "David" <dafr+plug at dafr.us> wrote:

> On 12/04/2017 03:36 PM, michael wrote:
>
>> On 2017-12-04 17:00, David wrote:
>>
>>> On 12/04/2017 02:33 PM, michael wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have it working.  I don't want the password for the owner of the 
>>>> share in plain text in a file though.  Creating /home/pi/.smbpasswd 
>>>> with the contents:
>>>> username=Test
>>>> password=password
>>>> domain=somedomain
>>>> and chmod 600 isn't good enough.
>>>>
>>>> The password should be salted in this file even if it is password!
>>>>
>>>> Is there a simple way to use an smbpasswd file properly salted 
>>>> without implementing a full samba server?
>>>>
>>>
>>> The proper tool that I know of is "smbpasswd" as an executable, 
>>> which is part of the samba-common-bin package on my system (Debian).
>>>
>>> It may have dependencies which includes a full smb server (which I 
>>> run), so this may not be helpful information.
>>>
>>> dafr
>>>
>>
>
>> I am most concerned about the password having to be in plaintext when 
>> transmitted over the network.  Even if there is a way without a full 
>> samba server deployment to have the password sent in encrypted form 
>> over the network, that would be great.  The server is probably the 
>> latest incarnation of Windows server.  I don't like the idea of 
>> having to have a Linux user for every Windows user either.
>>
>
>
>
> Sure, I get that, and agree with the concerns. I was looking at the 
> smbpasswd man page initially and this is why I think you want to use 
> this
> utility:
>
>       "On a UNIX machine the encrypted SMB
>        passwords are usually stored in the smbpasswd(5) file."
>
> Now, the problem with the utility is that unless you do something 
> fancy, you may have to be on the localhost where the share is exported 
> to set / reset the password as a user. This may not be feasible in 
> your situation unless there is a web interface that you can front 
> smbpasswd with to allow users to change passwords.
>
> When mounting a share in a Windows VM on my Linux host, I have to auth 
> with a pop-up window of user / pass to access the shared directory. 
> I'm not sure if (and don't believe that) you have to have a Linux 
> account for the Windows user. They are different password files, but 
> my experience is also limited to a full samba server, so your needs 
> may be more an issue than mine.
>
> dafr
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