[SUMMARY] Mailtool overwriting /dev/null !!
2007-12-25 11:09:00
Original question is included below.
Special thanks to John Nield who nailed it. My problem was the line:
DEAD=/dev/null
in my .mailrc file, which had been added automatically when my account was created
(I recently changed jobs). I have to admit I'm a bit embarrassed for not coming
up with this myself.
I never before realized that a normal user can delete /dev/null! This seems
problematic to say the least!
Other suggestions, all great, were (1) use truss to trace the system calls
leading to /dev/null getting deleted...this surely would have implicated the
dead.letter mechanism; (2) check for dead.letter files sym linked to /dev/null.
Thanks to:
"John Nield" <jnield@impole.com>
Jochen Bern <bern@penthesilea.uni-trier.de>
James Cannon <JCannon@calmit.unl.edu>
Dave Foster
>
> Platform:
>
> Server: Ultra 60, Solaris 2.6 fully patched
> Client: Sparc 10, SunOS 4.1.4 fully patched
>
> Problem:
>
> When I run Sun's mailtool program (as normal user) remotely on *any* of
> our Solaris 2.6 servers, /dev/null gets overwritten or deleted, presumably by
> sendmail (since this would require root permission). The client is always
> a Sparc10 with SunOS 4.1.4.
>
> This results in the following error from mailtool:
>
> fill_fd: disconnect: cannot open /dev/null: No such file or directory
>
> And of course no /dev/null breaks a LOT of other things!
>
> I'm not sure if it's related, but I have seen this message which seems
> related to a problem with the X server on the client side:
>
> XView warning: Object 0x157170, Already in fullscreen by another client.
> Fullscreen Failed. (Fullscreen package)
> Could not put up alert to request confirmation of following operation:
> The current mail box has been changed
> Do you wish to save the changes?
>
> Proceeding by assuming that this operation was NOT confirmed
>
> Also, in case it may matter, my mailfile is in my home directory, which
> has been mounted by the automounter in an NIS environment. Mailtool is
> started with:
>
> mailtool -Mf /home/foster/.mail/.mbox
>
> As I am writing this message using mailtool, /dev/null has been
> overwritten by the beginning of this message! So it seems related
> to the dead.letter backups somehow, but the dead.letter file has
> not been created.
>
> The link for /dev/null before it gets zapped seems correct:
>
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root other 27 Oct 5 11:02
> /dev/null -> ../devices/pseudo/mm@0:null
>
>
> Plea:
>
> Has anyone else seen this very strange problem? Can anyone suggest
> free GUI alternatives to mailtool?
>
>
> Thanks, summary to follow.
>
> Dave Foster
>
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