Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2000 00:21:27 -0700 (PDT) From: Kris Kennaway <kris@FreeBSD.org> To: Kelly Yancey <kbyanc@posi.net> Cc: audit@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Update to patch(1) Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0008090018280.84210-100000@freefall.freebsd.org> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0008082232140.19072-100000@gateway.posi.net>
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On Wed, 9 Aug 2000, Kelly Yancey wrote:
> Yeah, unfortunatly the surrounding files aren't consistent either. :( The
> existing code flips back and forth between the two at will.
Hmm..it still would be good to choose a consistent style yourself, I
guess.
> > * system() is insecure - there's no point in making all the string
> > operations buffer-safe if you go and pass a user string to system() :-)
>
> I can only assume that the original OpenBSD patches were more for
> consistency's sake. It can't hurt, though. :)
Well, there's more to auditing than just making things buffer-safe,
although sometimes the other problems are overlooked. I can only assume
that happened here..
> > * mkstemp() + close() isn't a drop-in replacement for mktemp() since it
> > will leave tempfiles around if the program exits through an abnormal
> > channel (error condition, signal, etc). mkstemp() + unlink() is usually
> > okay if the program (or another program) doesn't need to reopen the same
> > file, although it needs more source-code modification.
> >
>
> Hmm. That is a good point and an interesting dilemma: without making some
> fairly intruisive changes I can't use mkstemp() + unlink(). So which is the
> lesser evil: the existing use of mktemp or risking leaving tempfiles with
> mkstemp()?
Could you do something evil like making a global variable for the file
descriptor so you don't have to pass it around through function calls?
Kris
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