Re: [Qemu-devel] [PATCH v2] vnc: disable VNC password authentication (security type 2) when in FIPS mode

[Alexander Graf]

On 03.05.2012, at 10:57, Daniel P. Berrange wrote:

> On Thu, May 03, 2012 at 10:51:15AM +0200, Alexander Graf wrote:
>> 
>> On 03.05.2012, at 10:29, Daniel P. Berrange wrote:
>> 
>>> On Wed, May 02, 2012 at 03:32:56PM -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
>>>> FIPS 140-2 requires disabling certain ciphers, including DES, which is used
>>>> by VNC to obscure passwords when they are sent over the network.  The
>>>> solution for FIPS users is to disable the use of VNC password auth when the
>>>> host system is operating in FIPS mode.
>> 
>> So that means "no password" is more secure according to FIPS than
>> "DES encrypted password"?
> 
> No, FIPS is not making statements about the choice of auth methods.
> FIPS is concerned with what encryption algorithms an application uses.
> The requirements about whether authentication is required & what sort,
> is upto other specifications (eg Common Criteria) to decide.

Hrm, so short-term this fixes things. But long-term, I think the better 
solution would be to implement the tight security model and use a real cipher:

  http://www.tigervnc.org/cgi-bin/rfbproto#tight-security-type


Alex