Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:49:15 -0400 From: Bob Johnson <bob89@eng.ufl.edu> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: matt@atopia.net Subject: cat /dev/urandom Message-ID: <200507261949.16230.bob89@eng.ufl.edu>
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Tue, Jul 26, 2005 at 6:32 PM Matt Juszczak <matt@atopia.net> > Hi all, > > Quick question. > > shell# cat /dev/urandom > > can that executed as root cause any harm to the system? What if a random > sequence of `rm *` was generated... would it be executed? > Not from a virtual terminal. There may have been an old hardware "smart" terminals that would let you trick it into echoing stuff back through the keyboard buffer with the appropriate esc sequence, but emulators for those have such functions disabled by default these days, for the obvious reason. I'm willing to assume that includes whatever you are using for a terminal program. > I tried that to fix my terminal and forgot it might cause damage as root, > even if its just being cat'd to the screen. I thought I saw some files > fly by which would indicate an execution of `ls`.... Highly unlikely, unless you are actually using an old hardware terminal, then it is still pretty unlikely. For example: $ cat test.txt This is a test file. test test `ls -l /` test cat just types the characters out on the screen. The `ls -l` didn't get executed. > > Just curious.... > - Bob
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