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Date:      Mon, 06 Jul 1998 16:58:12 -0700
From:      Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
To:        joelh@gnu.org
Cc:        jkh@time.cdrom.com, smoergrd@oslo.geco-prakla.slb.com, tarkhil@asteroid.svib.ru, current@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: xf86OpenConsole: KDENABIO failed (Operation not permitted) 
Message-ID:  <199807062358.QAA01334@dingo.cdrom.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 06 Jul 1998 17:11:22 CDT." <199807062211.RAA09001@detlev.UUCP> 

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> >> Most things that are disallowed under securelevel 1 are things that
> >> aren't frequently done except during rc, a system install, or an
> >> attack.  But running X is a normal operation.  I'd classify it as a
> >> bug myself.
> > Actually, running X is not a "normal" operation at all - it performs
> > inb/outb instructions and does various privileged bits of syscons
> > frobbing that could be potentially quite hazardous in the hands of the
> > deliberately malicious.  Running an X server should be a conscious
> > compromise of certain types of security.
> 
> While I will agree that it does not run in a normal manner, it is not
> an infrequent operation.
> 
> I was about to continue that paragraph, when the question occurred:
> Are there no other userland programs (besides wine and doscmd) that do
> these ops?

Lots of them; there's plenty of low-speed industrial control 
applications that dink the hardware directly courtesy of the IOPL bit.

-- 
\\  Sometimes you're ahead,       \\  Mike Smith
\\  sometimes you're behind.      \\  mike@smith.net.au
\\  The race is long, and in the  \\  msmith@freebsd.org
\\  end it's only with yourself.  \\  msmith@cdrom.com



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