The "missing" password!

[Colin Watson]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 10:04:52PM -0400, Niles Rogoff wrote:
> It does not require root,

"cat /etc/passwd" and "file /etc/passwd" require exactly the same
privileges.  Both read a world-readable file.  Neither requires root.

> and if the person in question accidentally did something like `mknod
> -m 777 /etc/passwd c 1 8' as a result of some poorly written guide, it
> would prevent their tty from being flooded with binary

This is surely not a scenario worth worrying about.  Any such "guide"
would basically entirely trash the system; whether your tty is flooded
with binary is the least of your concerns at this point.

-- 
Colin Watson                                       [cjwatson at ubuntu.com]