[Info-vax] Unexpected DECnet Phase IV functionality with possible captive account implications

[Some Dude]

On Monday, May 10, 2021 at 2:20:19 PM UTC-4, Simon Clubley wrote:
> I have come across some very unexpected DECnet Phase IV functionality 
> while I was looking at the FAL specification. 
> 
> Did you know that you can directly submit batch jobs using FAL from 
> across the network without having to go anywhere near a command prompt 
> on the target system ? The command procedure runs on SYS$BATCH on 
> the target system as the user you have logged into with FAL on the 
> target system. 

What Simon omits is that you are required to provide login credentials (absent a default FAL
account which would leave your system vulnerable to many more interesting things.)

The response from VSI also included:

 As such, outside the inherent security problems  with the unencrypted DECnet transport 
itself...

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And I agree with Hoff on this one:

> And there's a reason I keep writing comments about the problems of
> continued use of DECnet...

--Doug