[asterisk-dev] Security Request for discussion: Should sip.conf allowguest=yes be the default

[Kai Hoerner]

Tilghman Lesher wrote:
> There is something magical about the first time you get Asterisk to "respond",
> and we don't want to make that moment harder for new users.
I partially agree with Tilghman here.
But I also agree with Atis: how educated is a user who is unable to 
setup credentials, a thing they need for mostly any server<>client stuff 
out there?

Not that very. So we can expect any linux/*nix administrator to 
understand authentication mechanisms.
What we can *not* expect from any linux/*nix admin is that he's 
automagically aware of that "allowguest" implication.

I think learning how to setup credentials correctly is easier for 
beginners, than learning how to configure dialplans securely.
since it's something *special* to asterisk, which does not apply to most 
other software. but the need of using credentials does, i think.


I'd like to throw in another suggestion from Kaloyan which ended up in 
another leg of the discussion:

> Why not change the default context in sip.conf (and iax.conf for guest on make
> samples) to [unauthenticated_call] instead of just default, which will be more
> prominent for the admin of what is happening?


I know, problem is that there is no such context. There is a default 
context (hence the name) which can be used for unauthenticated calls _as 
well_, when allowguest=yes.
Nevertheless, i love self-documenting systems and IMHO this is a good idea.

There should have been seperated default contexts for authenticated and 
unauthenticated calls right from the beginning.
Best practise is to not use the "default" context at all, i believe.


Regards,
Kaii