This directory contains sample authorization programs for use with the
'authinfo generic' command in nnrpd.

The first program in here is from Doug Needham I have successfully
tested this program when connecting to nnrpd by hand, but I've not
taken the time to figure out how to get my newsreader to use
'authinfo generic'.  There is no Makefile here and no serious
testing of it, so it's not integrated. If you have success using
it and care to share what you've done. Please drop me a note
(<inn@isc.org>). Thanks.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Replied: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 19:29:17 +0200
Replied: Douglas Wade Needham <dneedham@dneedham.inhouse.compuserve.com>
Received: by gw.home.vix.com id UAA05867; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 20:45:27 -0700 (PDT)
Received: (from dneedham@localhost) by dneedham.inhouse.compuserve.com (8.7.4/8.6.9) id XAA21103; Thu, 25 Jul 1996 23:45:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: Douglas Wade Needham <dneedham@dneedham.inhouse.compuserve.com>
Message-Id: <199607260345.XAA21103@dneedham.inhouse.compuserve.com>
Subject: A sample program for authinfo generic (for inn 1.5)
To: inn-workers@vix.com (INN Gurus/Workers)
Date: Thu, 25 Jul 1996 23:45:25 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: inn@isc.org, brister@vix.com (James A. Brister)
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL25]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=%#%record%#%
Status: U

--%#%record%#%
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Length: 1894      

Hi folks...

Finally started to get some time to clear some things from my todo list...Here
is a sample program which can be used by "authinfo generic" to validate a user
against the password file on the news host.  While not a great example, it does
demonstrate how you can write an authentication program.  All I ask is that
credit be given.

A couple of notes that I have found out about these programs for those of you
who may be interested in writing your own...

1) These programs have stdin and stdout connected all the way back to the
   reader, so they can carry on a dialog in whatever fashion they want to 
   with the user's news reader.  This can include passing Kerberos tickets,
   encrypted or hashed passwords, or doing a challenge-response type session
   for authenticating the user rather than passing the password in clear-text 
   across the network.

2) Regardless of the outcome, the authentication program must send NNRPD a
   record such as is found in nnrp.access by writing it to stderr.

3) Successful authentication is indicated by a zero exit status, and
   unsuccessful authentication is indicated by a non-zero exit status.

4) Need I say it (again)...these programs can be a security hole unless care is
   taken to avoid SUID programs and those that transmit/recieve passwords in
   the clear (especially those that use login passwords).  We should give some
   thought to doing a similiar program for Kerberos authentication (what sort
   of instance should we use???) and other authentication methods such as
   Compuserve's Distributed Authentication (guess I should do this one once the
   standard is finialized with the IETF 8) ).

Also, a question for the list as a whole... what readers easily support
authinfo generic (including running a program at the reader's end to do things
like challenge-response)???

Well...here it is...enjoy 8)...

- doug

#### See auth_pass.c #####
