Re:How to get root on Ubuntu 20.04 by pretending nobody’s /home
by cesarb on Wednesday November 11, 2020 @11:01AM
(#25059422)
> Last time I checked, Xorg was running as root pretty much everywhere
Xorg hasn't needed to run as root for a long time; kernel mode setting (KMS) removed the main reason for it to run as root. Its successor (Wayland) never runs as root (unless, of course, your user is root itself).
> But then again, privilege escalation is not the main risk for desktop user, because their data is readable by their OS account
The current push towards sandboxing (flatpak, sandboxed browser processes, etc) makes privilege escalation relevant for desktop users again.
Xorg hasn't needed to run as root for a long time; kernel mode setting (KMS) removed the main reason for it to run as root. Its successor (Wayland) never runs as root (unless, of course, your user is root itself).
> But then again, privilege escalation is not the main risk for desktop user, because their data is readable by their OS account
The current push towards sandboxing (flatpak, sandboxed browser processes, etc) makes privilege escalation relevant for desktop users again.