Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2000 22:18:25 +1000 From: Stephen McKay <syssgm@detir.qld.gov.au> To: Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.org> Cc: freebsd-security@freebsd.org, syssgm@detir.qld.gov.au Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/usr.sbin/ctm/ctm ctm.1 src/usr.sbin/ctm/ctm_rmail ctm_rmail.1 Message-ID: <200001111218.WAA31198@nymph.detir.qld.gov.au> In-Reply-To: <200001110746.XAA82203@freefall.freebsd.org> from Kris Kennaway at "Mon, 10 Jan 2000 23:46:34 -0800" References: <200001110746.XAA82203@freefall.freebsd.org>
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On Monday, 10th January 2000, Kris Kennaway wrote: >kris 2000/01/10 23:46:34 PST > > Modified files: > usr.sbin/ctm/ctm ctm.1 > usr.sbin/ctm/ctm_rmail ctm_rmail.1 > Log: > Document the (in)security features of CTM, especially ctm_rmail. > > Revision Changes Path > 1.16 +28 -2 src/usr.sbin/ctm/ctm/ctm.1 > 1.18 +26 -25 src/usr.sbin/ctm/ctm_rmail/ctm_rmail.1 I suppose it's a bigger and uglier world than it was even 5 short years ago when I wrote those soothing and perhaps naive words about possible fake deltas. I've not heard of any attacks, nor do I think one would actually succeed. The buffer overflow was a more realistic danger. But you are correct from a theoretical viewpoint; an attack *could* be made on the current email distributed ctm system. So, I am motivated to work on a cryptographic signature enhancement. Otherwise, what is the point of distributing a program with a manual that advises everyone not to use it?! Do you have any suggestions on how such a mechanism might be added? I have built a system in the past using PGP, but it aged ungracefully as PGP changed. I'm thinking of something like encoding the delta md5 with a secret key known only to the generation site, and having the current public key of known generations sites in a configuration file. Also, if the delta format changes, it would be a good time to introduce other changes, like detecting when files move from foo/bar.c to foo/Attic/bar.c and thus further reducing delta sizes. Stephen. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message
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