So if you do the Docker setup, obeying the instructions and substituting everything that needs to get substituted, but don’t proofread the files in detail and so miss that line 40 of docker-compose.yml doesn’t have the variable {{domain}} like in every other location you need to write your domain, but instead just says LEMMY_UI_LEMMY_EXTERNAL_HOST=lemmy.ml and so you fail to change it away from lemmy.ml… then, everything will work, until you type in your admin password for the first time, at which point your browser will send a request to lemmy.ml which includes your admin username, your email address, and the admin password you’re trying to set. And, also, of course your IP address wherever you are sitting and setting up the server.

I have no reason at all to think the Lemmy devs have set their server up to log this information when it comes in. nginx will throw it away by default, of course, but it would be easy for them to have it save it instead, if they wanted to. And my guess is most people won’t use a different admin password once they figure out why creating their admin user isn’t working and fix it.

@dessalines@lemmy.ml @nutomic@lemmy.ml I think you should fix the docker-compose.yml file not to do this.

Edit: Just to increase the information-to-rudeness ratio of my post. The docs are at:

https://join-lemmy.org/docs/administration/install_docker.html

And they recommend using wget to download:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-docs/main/assets/docker-compose.yml

Which is pulled from:

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy-docs/tree/main/assets

Which is what has the wrong line 40 in it.

Edit: They fixed it. Good stuff.

    • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
      245·
      16 hours ago

      Yeah, don’t they realize they could have just spent that time productively by making a pull request, instead?

        • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
          268·
          14 hours ago

          I mean probably I should. There are a bunch of people accusing me of being dick headed and petty and they’re not completely wrong. Honestly, I just don’t feel like helping the Lemmy devs. Dessalines, at least, is totally unapologetic about being a dickhead to people he has power over. That puts me in a mindset where, mostly, I want to talk to other people about potential harm he’s in a position to do, and not really in a mindset where I want to do even a small amount of extra work on his behalf.

          I’m going to tell other people that he’s in a position to take their passwords. If he wants to see that and put himself not in that position anymore? Great, I think he should. If he gets his feelings hurt because I’m not being super friendly about it? Well… okay. I’m not trying to be malicious about it or do anything other than clearly communicate the problem. But it seems like the lemmy.ml “in charge” crew in general has a lot of a mentality that’s kind of like, “Well, I’m in charge, and you’re not, so fuck what you think and fuck your rights. Ban.” (or whatever). The way I operate is that really makes me not want to be extra friendly or courteous to people. I used to have a regular donation to Lemmy development set up, I used to take it seriously the idea of getting involved in contributing to the code, and then I observed how they operate, and … like I say I’m mostly talking to the other people involved who I think should be aware of this. If the devs want to react, fix it, or get involved in the conversation, then sure, sounds good.

          The fix is in the comments below, if someone else wants to contribute it and do the very small amount of work of getting it in.

          • percent@infosec.pub
            2213·
            14 hours ago

            It sounds like a pull request would have been much more helpful, with much less effort. But you want it fixed less than you want it publicized, so you chose this option (even though you could have done both).

            In other words, you cared less about the people impacted by this problem, and more about your own opportunity to put the author(s) on blast like this.

            And you care about that opportunity so much, that it’s even worth it to show this dark side of yourself publicly.

            Am I understanding that right?

            • BassTurd@lemmy.world
              212·
              14 hours ago

              Or OP is spreading the word to get it out there. Now it’s got eyes on it thanks to OPs work.

              Jesus. Some of you people just want to shit on someone for doing a good thing for no reason. Have you put in a pull request yet or are you just showing your dark side on top of being a dick to OP who did something good?

              • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
                21·
                2 hours ago

                There’s been a multiyear crusade to oust .ml from the Fediverse with demands that the developers relinquish their instance servers to a third party and/or stop developing Lemmy altogether. That’s not an irrelevant context here given it is usually the same routine players.

                • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
                  3·
                  2 hours ago

                  I don’t think .ml should be ousted. I think they should stop being dickheads. It’s a little tangential to this particular post (mostly only relevant in that it makes people suspicious of their motives when otherwise they would not be.)

              • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
                91·
                14 hours ago

                One of the .ml users down below volunteered to put in the PR later tonight if no one else has, so it sounds like both bases are covered now.

              • percent@infosec.pub
                63·
                14 hours ago

                They could have done both.

                If it’s not fixed by Monday, I will consider starting the approval process from the legal department that requires it from me.

                I wish I had the freedom to just open a PR anywhere anytime, but I don’t.

            • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
              122·
              14 hours ago

              Let’s not get carried away. Shared software systems are about more than the software. If you’re looking only at the software, and that was literally 100% of what is important here and nothing else, then yes, you’re right.

              But you want it fixed less than you want it publicized

              100%. Yes. Correct. I also want it fixed, but that’s completely trivial, with or without the pull request.

              • irishPotato@sh.itjust.works
                91·
                9 hours ago

                I think there you hit the nail on the head! Just the fact that it is in there, whether intentionally or not is something that warrants warning people about. So that in the case someone goes to set up a server, they at least know that recently there was this rather severe risk of unnecessary credential exposure, again no matter if it was intentional or not.

                However, I will say that I think I would have also opened the PR, not to help the original dev necessarily, but helping those that might come to use the software later.

          • TachyonTele@piefed.socialEnglish
            1614·
            14 hours ago

            Regardless of all that drama, you could have spent five minutes at anytime in the last two hours writing significantly less than you have, and putting the the request in.

            You could have been done doing it in-between replies. Just saying.

    • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
      413·
      8 hours ago

      The devs have access to the source code. Why would they put something like this two layers deep into the documentation? It’s like those people that think Mozilla is evil, because Mozilla openly talks about what they’re doing. If they wanted to be evil, you would know jackshit about it.

      • PhilipTheBucket@ponder.catOP
        52·
        3 hours ago
        • “This isn’t even malicious, just look at it, it’s perfectly innocent”
        • “Besides, if they wanted to do something, they could disguise it way better than this”

        Pick a lane, .ml.

        • Ephera@lemmy.mlEnglish
          22·
          2 hours ago

          I’ll let the hivemind know that we’re supposed to have only one opinion.