[tor-project] LDAP sudo passwords change

[Antoine Beaupré]

Hello!

What
====

In a month from now, the sudo configuration on torproject.org machines
will change. While right now your normal LDAP password can be used to
authenticate with sudo, but it will then require you to use the dedicated
sudo password.

When
====

For now, both the LDAP password and the new sudo password will work to
authenticate to sudo. Starting in the third week of October (around
October 14th), the LDAP password will no longer be accepted for sudo
authentication.

Note that this was previously announced in March 2016, but never enforced:

https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-project/2016-March/000199.html

How
===

The LDAP password is the one you got sent in encrypted mail when your
account was first created on db.torproject.org. You should have
changed that on the [web interface][].  This password is the one that
also allows you to log into the management interface there and change
for instance your mail forwarding configuration or your sudo password.

 [web interface]: https://db.torproject.org/login.html

To set the sudo password:

 1. go to the user management website above
 2. pick "Update my info"
 3. set a new (strong) sudo password

If you want, you can set a password that works for all the hosts that
are managed by torproject-admin, by using the "wildcard ("*").
Alternatively, or additionally, you can have per-host sudo passwords
-- just select the appropriate host in the pull-down box.

Once set on the web interface, you will have to confirm the new
settings by sending a signed challenge to the mail interface.  Please
ensure you don't introduce any additional line breaks.

Note that setting a sudo password will only enable you to use sudo to
configured accounts on configured hosts. Consult the output of "sudo
-l" if you don't know what you may do. (If you don't know, chances are
you don't need to nor can use sudo.)

Why
===

We prefer to use two authentication factors to access the more
powerful "sudo" command, this is a security measure. We want a
different password for anything that elevates your privilege,
in other words.

Who
===

This change is operated by the Tor Project sysadmins (TPA). If you
have any questions or comments, feel free to respond to this message
or followup in ticket #6367.

-- 
Antoine Beaupré
torproject.org system administration
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