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Date:      Sun, 19 Jul 1998 14:47:25 -0600
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   The 99,999-bug question: Why can you execute from the stack?
Message-ID:  <199807192047.OAA02264@lariat.lariat.org>

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We're going to be spending about a man-month rebuilding a complex system
that was hacked due to a buffer overflow exploit. Looking back at our
system log files, I can see exactly how the hack was done and how the
perpetrator was able to get root.

What I CAN'T understand is why FreeBSD allows the hack to occur. Why on
Earth would one want to allow code to be executed from the stack? The Intel
segmentation model normally prevents this, and there's additional hardware
in the MMU that's supposed to be able to preclude it. Why does the OS leave
this gigantic hole open? Why not just close it?

--Brett Glass


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