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From: Adam Shostack <adam@homeport.org>
Message-Id: <199712041054.FAA20091@homeport.org>
Subject: Re: Possible problem with ftpd 6.00
In-Reply-To: <15222.881232488@time.cdrom.com> from "Jordan K. Hubbard" at "Dec 4, 97 02:48:08 am"
To: jkh@time.cdrom.com (Jordan K. Hubbard)
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 1997 05:54:35 -0500 (EST)
Cc: security@FreeBSD.ORG
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Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
| > If you design systems such that people need to RTFM, your systems will
| > fail.  The FTP daemon should be re-written so that it doesn't ask for
| > a password when its offering anonymous access.  (As in http).
| 
| Which would break the heck out of many traditional FTP clients which
| expect every user, be it a legit one or an anonymous one, will result
| in a password being requested by the ftpd and they'll probably fail
| the handshake with your optimization.

Nolo contendre.

	I've long argued that FTP is brain dead and should be
replaced.  It has a host of misfeatures (the TCP connection back to
the client causes uncountable headache for firewall builders, the site
exec mechanism is just not a good idea, etc).

	So please don't read it as a serious suggestion that we change
the FTP daemon to fix this problem, but as an appeal to not design
protocols that ask for ID for anonymous connection.

Adam


-- 
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once."
					               -Hume