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Date:      Thu, 14 Aug 1997 09:45:14 +1200 (NZST)
From:      Jonathan Chen <jonc@pinnacle.co.nz>
To:        John-David Childs <jdc@denver.net>
Cc:        Julian Elischer <julian@whistle.com>, freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Please explain why this is a security hole in /etc/daily
Message-ID:  <Pine.SGI.3.95.970814093912.10046A-100000@tui.pinnacle.co.nz>
In-Reply-To: <19970812232708.44622@denver.net>

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On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, John-David Childs wrote:

> On Tuesday August 1997, Julian Elischer <julian@whistle.com>
>  had this to say about "Re: Please explain why this is a security hole 
>  in /etc/daily":
> 
> > John-David Childs wrote:
> > > 
> > > happens next if the "action" is "rm -f {} \;"    :=)
> > 
> > the symlink gets deleted?
> 
> The file pointed to by the symlink (/etc/master.passwd) gets deleted.

The security problem John-David describes is only true if you've got a
symlink that points to a directory *AND* the `find' has a -follow.
Otherwise only the symlink gets deleted (as Julian describes).
--
Jonathan Chen                          e-mail : jonc@pinnacle.co.nz
  Pinnacle Software Ltd                Voice  : +64.9.415.4460
  Auckland, New Zealand                Fax    : +64.9.415.4250






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