rssh for Debian
---------------

rssh provides a way of restricting a user to only using one or more of
scp, sftp, cvs, rsync, rdist, and svnserve.  rssh also can optionally
chroot into a jail before running the command and has a configuration file
to specify which commands are allowed.

THE CVS SUPPORT IS PROBABLY NOT SECURE. cvs is a very large and complex
program with many options, and rssh almost certainly does not protect
against all the ways to use cvs on the server to run commands on the
server, particularly if the attacker also has ways to write to the local
file system. Use the cvs support at your own risk.

Please thoroughly read the rssh man page before using this program.  If
rssh is not configured correctly, it may not be secure.  You may also want
to read the security history in /usr/share/doc/rssh/SECURITY.  In
particular, if you're allowing ssh access, make sure that either the
restricted user cannot write to ~/.ssh or ~/.ssh/environment or that you
have PermitUserEnvironment set to no in /etc/sshd_config.

/usr/share/doc/rssh/examples/mkchroot.sh automates much of the work of
setting up a chroot environment if you choose to configure rssh that way.
Alternately, you could try using makejail, which takes a more
comprehensive approach to figuring out what files are needed.  makejail is
designed for daemons, so it's a bit difficult to use, but if you configure
makejail to run (via testCommandsInsideJail) the programs you want to
allow the user to run via rssh, it may be able to figure it out.

rssh is built using shared libraries by default.  If you want to recompile
it statically linked, build the source package with:

    DEB_CONFIGURE_OPTIONS=static

in the environment.  The rssh author recommends this, but static binaries
are not well-supported by glibc.

Keep in mind that the software has been developed to be simple, trying to
avoid possible security problems, but cannot be assured.  If you find a
security problem, please report it as soon as possible.  Note that the
Debian bug tracking system is public; if you believe you have discovered a
serious security vulnerability, feel free to contact the maintainers
directly.

Also note that the upstream maintainer of rssh does not plan to make any
further releases.  If you are interested in support for additional
programs (such as passwd; see Debian Bug#323384) and you have the skills
to maintain a security-sensitive C program, consider taking over upstream
maintenance.

 -- Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org>, Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:23:15 -0700
