[Eug-lug] skype trouble

[Jim K]

after using skype several times, it does read the passwd file but not
the shadow file.
I won't worry about it any more.
Jim K

Michael Miller wrote:
> I think people are more or less wondering why the client is looking at
> anything in the /etc directory.  It's not like your password is stored
> in the /etc/passwd file (anymore).  Any user can look at the
> /etc/passwd file, it's not a big deal (IMHO).  Unless skype is trying
> to harvest usernames to try and send e-mail messages to other users on
> your machine.  Which is unlikely but possible.  I don't really see a
> reason why a VoIP client would need to look in /etc/, the only file
> system access should be to your home directory IMHO.
>
> -Miller
>
> On 8/28/07, Bob Miller <kbob at jogger-egg.com> wrote:
>   
>> Neil Parker wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> No.  The closest you can get is probably to run your suspicious software
>>> under the control of strace or something similar.  This will report all
>>> system calls made by the process, including attempts to open files.  (I
>>> believe this was exactly how skype's suspicious behavior was discovered.)
>>>       
>> What, exactly, is suspicious about reading /etc/passwd?
>> /etc/passwd is used to map numeric user IDs to user names.
>> It's also used to map user IDs and names to full names.
>>
>> Does Skype ever display your name or your username?
>>
>> --
>> Bob Miller                              K<bob>
>>                                         kbob at jogger-egg.com
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