Invocation of Anonymous RCP

The remote client's rcp command invokes the rcp command on the netlib server machines via the remote shell service (rshd). rshd on the Netlib machines has been specially modified to accept the following syntax in .rhosts files:

• If the remote-user field is ``*'', and the remote-machine field is filled in, any remote user at that machine can execute commands.

• If the remote-machine field is ``*'', and the remote-user field is filled in, any user by that name on any machine can execute commands.

• If both fields are ``*'', anyone can execute commands for this particular user.

The .rhosts file for user anon on the netlib machines currently consists of the following line:

* *

The rshd program defines the environment variables REMOTE_HOSTand REMOTE_USERfor use by programs that it runs.