Re: BgRegister X server insecure - newbie

> 
> Hi,
> 
> I am sure this has been covered before, but I cannot find a fix.
> 
> I keep seeing these msgs:
>  BgRegister X server insecure (must use xauth-style authorization);
>  command ignored
> 
>  exmh-bg cannot rendez-vous with UI - exiting.
>  Usually this is because Tk send is not working.
> 
> I looked at FAQ 4b, but I am still not sure what to do. Can anyone help?
> 
> exmh version 2.6.3
> os: aix 5.2

Hi Paul,

I'm not sure how X is started in aix, but you may get some help from this
relevant part of /usr/X11R6/bin/startx from FreeBSD (it doesn't have the
'mcookie' command either):

	authdisplay=${display:-:0}
	mcookie=`dd if=/dev/urandom bs=16 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -e \\"%08x\\"`
	for displayname in $authdisplay $hostname$authdisplay; do
    	if ! xauth list "$displayname" | grep "$displayname " >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        	xauth -q << EOF 
	add $displayname . $mcookie
	EOF
		removelist="$displayname $removelist"
    	fi
	done

Look at your command for starting X, it's likely to be a shell script of
some sort that invokes xiniit. I've appended the full startx below.

joel

-- Joel Hatton --
Security Analyst                    | Hotline: +61 7 3365 4417
AusCERT - Australia's national CERT | Fax:     +61 7 3365 7031
The University of Queensland        | WWW:     www.auscert.org.au
Qld 4072 Australia                  | Email:   [email protected]

#!/bin/sh

# $Xorg: startx.cpp,v 1.3 2000/08/17 19:54:29 cpqbld Exp $
#
# This is just a sample implementation of a slightly less primitive
# interface than xinit.  It looks for user .xinitrc and .xserverrc
# files, then system xinitrc and xserverrc files, else lets xinit choose
# its default.  The system xinitrc should probably do things like check
# for .Xresources files and merge them in, startup up a window manager,
# and pop a clock and serveral xterms.
#
# Site administrators are STRONGLY urged to write nicer versions.
#
# $XFree86: xc/programs/xinit/startx.cpp,v 3.16tsi Exp $


userclientrc=$HOME/.xinitrc
userserverrc=$HOME/.xserverrc
sysclientrc=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc
sysserverrc=/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc
defaultclient=/usr/X11R6/bin/xterm
defaultserver=/usr/X11R6/bin/X
defaultclientargs=""
defaultserverargs=""
clientargs=""
serverargs=""






if [ -f $userclientrc ]; then
    defaultclientargs=$userclientrc
elif [ -f $sysclientrc ]; then
    defaultclientargs=$sysclientrc
fi




if [ -f $userserverrc ]; then
    defaultserverargs=$userserverrc
elif [ -f $sysserverrc ]; then
    defaultserverargs=$sysserverrc
fi

whoseargs="client"
listen_tcp="-nolisten tcp"
while [ x"$1" != x ]; do
    case "$1" in
    -listen_tcp)
	listen_tcp=""
	;;
    # '' required to prevent cpp from treating "/*" as a C comment.
    /''*|\./''*)
	if [ "$whoseargs" = "client" ]; then
	    if [ x"$clientargs" = x ]; then
		client="$1"
	    else
		clientargs="$clientargs $1"
	    fi
	else
	    if [ x"$serverargs" = x ]; then
		server="$1"
	    else
		serverargs="$serverargs $1"
	    fi
	fi
	;;
    --)
	whoseargs="server"
	;;
    *)
	if [ "$whoseargs" = "client" ]; then
	    clientargs="$clientargs $1"
	else
	    # display must be the FIRST server argument
	    if [ x"$serverargs" = x ] && \
		 expr "$1" : ':[0-9][0-9]*$' > /dev/null 2>&1; then
		display="$1"
	    else
		serverargs="$serverargs $1"
	    fi
	fi
	;;
    esac
    shift
done

# process client arguments
if [ x"$client" = x ]; then
    # if no client arguments either, use rc file instead
    if [ x"$clientargs" = x ]; then
	client="$defaultclientargs"
    else
	client=$defaultclient
    fi
fi

# process server arguments
if [ x"$server" = x ]; then
    # if no server arguments or display either, use rc file instead
    if [ x"$serverargs" = x -a x"$display" = x ]; then
	server="$defaultserverargs"
    else
	server=$defaultserver
    fi
fi

if [ x"$XAUTHORITY" = x ]; then
    XAUTHORITY=$HOME/.Xauthority
    export XAUTHORITY
fi

removelist=


# set up default Xauth info for this machine
case `uname` in
Linux*)
	if [ -z "`hostname --version 2>&1 | grep GNU`" ]; then
		hostname=`hostname -f`
	else
		hostname=`hostname`
	fi
	;;
*)
	hostname=`hostname`
	;;
esac

authdisplay=${display:-:0}
mcookie=`dd if=/dev/urandom bs=16 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -e \\"%08x\\"`
for displayname in $authdisplay $hostname$authdisplay; do
    if ! xauth list "$displayname" | grep "$displayname " >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        xauth -q << EOF 
add $displayname . $mcookie
EOF
	removelist="$displayname $removelist"
    fi
done


xinit $client $clientargs -- $server $display $serverargs $listen_tcp

if [ x"$removelist" != x ]; then
    xauth remove $removelist
fi