Re: pg_cancel_backend by non-superuser

2011/10/1 Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>:
> Daniel Farina <daniel(at)heroku(dot)com> writes:
>> This patch would appear(?) to have languished:
>> https://commitfest.postgresql.org/action/patch_view?id=541
>
>> I'd really like to see it included.  In the last comments of the
>> review, there seem to be problems in *terminate* backend, but even
>> just pg_cancel_backend as non-superuser would be just a huge
>> improvement.  What are the things blocking non-superuser
>> pg_cancel_backend from being accepted?
>
> I think the reason the patch stalled is that we have not got consensus
> on how far to extend the conditions under which these operations should
> be allowed.  For instance, in the last comment attached to that
> commitfest entry, Noah alleges that a non-superuser database owner
> should be allowed to kill a superuser's session, if it's connected
> to his database.  My reaction to that is somewhere between "no" and
> "hell no"; IMO superusers can mess up non-superusers, never vice versa.
> If I recall the discussion correctly, there were other points of
> contention too.
>

Hi,

the original patch allow only for the DB Owner to kill sessions owner
by other users.
This because in real world I have some production database where I'm
not the DBA, but only the DB owner.

I think that is not a good idea that a normal users is able to kill
session from the same user because, unfortunally,
in some real environment there are a lots of application that need to
access to the same database and the same user is used.
I know that is not a good practise but it is on the field ....

For this reason I suppose that allow only to DB onwer to kill other
sessions it is a good compromize between functionality and security,
but is my personal opinion ...

> I don't think we need more coding right now ... we need somebody to
> write a spec that everyone can agree to.
>
> ISTM it would be reasonably non-controversial to allow users to issue
> pg_cancel_backend against other sessions logged in as the same userID.
> The question is whether to go further than that, and if so how much.
>
>                        regards, tom lane
>
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