Re: [Gnump3d-users] Is port 80 a security issue when root?

[Benjamin Peter]

Hi,

address@hidden wrote:
> I want to run my gnump3d server on the typical port 80 so that my users don't 
> need to type in ports and some firewalls don't block access to my server.  
> I've been running it in Slackware Linux for about 2 years now.  I changed 
> /etc/gnump3d/gnump3d.conf so that port is 80 but saw the comment in there 
> that the user has to be root to run on port 80.  Why?  Is running the server 
> as root with a command line only interface and iptables firewall a security 
> issue?

this is a Linux restriction, only privileged users may open incoming
ports from 1 to 1024.

A work around from an implementation point of view would be to open the
port as root and then fork to an unprivileged user to serve the clients.


Ben.