Date: Sat, 01 Dec 2001 08:57:59 -0800 From: Cy Schubert - ITSD Open Systems Group <Cy.Schubert@uumail.gov.bc.ca> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: phk@FreeBSD.ORG, security@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: philosophical question... Message-ID: <200112011658.fB1Gwep07621@cwsys.cwsent.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 01 Dec 2001 09:42:14 MST." <200112011642.JAA09819@lariat.org>
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In message <200112011642.JAA09819@lariat.org>, Brett Glass writes: > > Would it inconvenience debugging that malloc(3) becomes non > > deterministic in its layout ? > > > Would the increased uncertainty on program run-time be > > good or bad ? > > It could make reproduction of problems more difficult. So, if > it goes in, I'd like a switch to turn it off.... Maybe a > sysctl. > > But there's a more serious philosophical issue here. Isn't > shuffling the heap to avoid attacks really a form of > "security via obscurity?" Defence through depth. Every little bit helps. I think we should do this. I suppose we could have a malloc.conf bit to turn this feature off (on by default). Regards, Phone: (250)387-8437 Cy Schubert Fax: (250)387-5766 Team Leader, Sun/Alpha Team Email: Cy.Schubert@osg.gov.bc.ca Open Systems Group, ITSD Ministry of Management Services Province of BC To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-security" in the body of the message
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