3.1.1 Password protecting GRUB and LILO
First, edit the /etc/inittab file and insert the following line, right after the "initdefault" line:~~:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin
. This will require a password to boot into single-user mode by making init run 'sulogin' before dropping the machine to a root shell. 'sulogin' requires the user to input the root password before continuing.Unfortunately, the above step won't protect us against people who know what they are doing and pass init=/bin/bash to the kernel at the LILO prompt. To prevent unauthorized access I would suggest that you password protect LILO/GRUB by following these steps:
How to Protect LILO:
- Open a shell prompt and log in as root
- Open
/etc/lilo.conf
in your favorite text editor - Add the following line before the first image stanza:
password=<password>
, where <password> is your password. - Run /sbin/lilo -v to let the changes take effect
- Type chmod 600 /etc/lilo.conf to give only root access to read and edit the file since all passwords are in plain text
- Relax a bit, as your system is a little bit more secure
- Open a shell prompt and log in as root
- Type /sbin/grub-md5-crypt and press enter
- Enter the password you chose for GRUB when prompted. This will return an MD5 hash of your password
- Open
/boot/grub/grub.conf
in your favorite text editor - Add password --md5 <password-hash> below the timeout in the main section (Replace <password-hash> with the hash you got in the previous step)
- Save and exit
- The next time you reboot, the GRUB menu will not let you access the editor or command interface without first pressing [p] followed by the GRUB password.
3.1.2 Password-protecting the BIOS
There are two primary reasons for password-protecting the BIOS of a computer:- Prevent Changes To BIOS Settings: if an intruder has access to the BIOS, they can set it to boot off of a diskette or CD-ROM.
- Prevent Booting the System: Some BIOSes allow you to password protect the boot process itself. When activated, an attacker would be forced to enter a password for the BIOS to launch the boot loader.
No comments:
Post a Comment