Fedora 35 installs packages without bothering me about passwords

max.b · 11-11-2021, 10:18 PM

If I type

Code:

$ yum install ...

it refuses to run (as regular user), which is old school. But if I go to 'Software' and install stuff from the GUI, it never asks for any passwords (making yum's refusal a security theater)

I've never seen a Linux distro do that. I'm assuming they got a daemon running as root that just installs anything a user asks for (via the Software Center). Is this not a bit reckless, from the security PoV?

shruggy · 11-12-2021, 06:37 AM

I haven't tried Fedora 35 yet, but I'd expect it to use GNOME Software which is not Fedora-specific at all. So, the correct question is probably: "Does Software Center in GNOME 41 behave differently than before in respect to authorization?" I'm not a GNOME Software user, so cannot answer the question.

On CentOS 8 (GNOME 3.32), gnome-software launches without asking any questions either. But I wouldn't trust it to install anything on the system¹, so didn't check the installation process.

________
¹Mainly, because I don't see a clear distinction between regular RPM packages and Flatpaks in it.

boughtonp · 11-12-2021, 07:11 AM

How did the Fedora security team respond when you raised this issue with them?

ondoho · 11-13-2021, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by max.b

If I type

Code:

$ yum install ...

it refuses to run (as regular user), which is old school. But if I go to 'Software' and install stuff from the GUI, it never asks for any passwords (making yum's refusal a security theater)

I've never seen a Linux distro do that. I'm assuming they got a daemon running as root that just installs anything a user asks for (via the Software Center). Is this not a bit reckless, from the security PoV?

"gnome-keyring" is the answer you're looking for.

Re your unsuccesful trolling attempts: there's less annoying ways to phrase a question.

max.b · 11-21-2021, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boughtonp

How did the Fedora security team respond when you raised this issue with them?

I deleted Fedora instead.

But then I realized that this may have happened because that was the first time I logged in, which is when you create your account in Fedora, unlike the distros I'm used to.