My SSH and Telnet are disabled. If someone on my home network has my root password of my Ubuntu workstation can he gain remote access to my PC?
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1Hard to answer from the description. What services do you have listening? And how secure are they?– user535733Commented Jun 23, 2018 at 15:26
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1There is also NFS and Samba. Or a badly configured webserver (apache). It indeed depends on what you run on this server. Then again: you could also fix the real issue and change your password since it seems that person is not to be trusted ;-)– RinzwindCommented Jun 23, 2018 at 15:55
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Nothing is impossible. That being the case it's a really bad idea to share your root password with anyone. Not that that guarantees you anything unless the system is in a locked room that only you have the key to.. See this– Elder GeekCommented Jun 23, 2018 at 18:58
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Yes anyone with user access , root or otherwise, can configure any number of remote access. Scan for open ports– PantherCommented Jun 23, 2018 at 20:07
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my firewall configuration is on Public zone it still mean they can use samba service or any other remote control service ?– justlinx69Commented Jun 23, 2018 at 20:58
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1 Answer
Accessing your computer always requires something on your computer to reply to requests. So, as panther suggested, the best thing you can do is run a port scan to find out which services are listening on the network. To do so, I would suggest to use nmap. Although, you might have to learn about some options first to find out more. But for a start, nmap -A localhost might do the trick.
Depending on which ports are open, there might be vulnerabilities in your system. Although, who has access depends on the level of knowledge of the user ... and yours. This is the classic battle between hacker and security measures. Some people might not even be able to access your system, even though given the opportunity, for the lack of knowledge. While other might exceed your own knowledge and be able to work around your security measures.
The truth is, you don't even have to close down SSH entirely to prevent people using your password to get in. BTW, not handing your password to other people and in case creating separate users might be helpful too! And in regards to SSH you could just as well use keys instead of a simple user password. This way, a person without the according key won't be able to access your system, even if they had your password.
Also, come to think of it ... I think, as a security measure, root access is not permitted for SSH by default anyway. Especially for operating systems with disabled root users. So, even with SSH enabled, people won't get in as root via SSH and the average user with sudo permission is more of a concern in first place.
