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Date:      Sat, 31 Mar 2001 11:43:17 -0500
From:      Bill Moran <wmoran@iowna.com>
To:        freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Security problems with access(2)?
Message-ID:  <3AC60925.7CF191FA@iowna.com>

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I'm working on a quick little programming project for a client and ran
across this in the man page for access(2)
"Access() is a potential security hole and should never be used."
Obviously, I could use stat() instead, but use of access() will make
this project so simple it's not even funny.
Since that message is rather brief, I went looking for some more
information. In the source tree I found a number of programs that use
access() - including tcsh, sendmail and perl.

I'm a little confused here, if access() is such a serious security
problem that it should _never_ be used, do we now have a major problem
with a large amount of software in the base system?

Does anyone have a pointer to more detailed information on the potential
security hole in access()? I've got a bit more research to do on this,
but I'd appreciate any pointers to speed me along.

-Bill

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