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Date:      Fri, 9 Aug 2013 14:48:34 -0400
From:      Steven Bellovin <smb@cs.columbia.edu>
To:        darrenr@NetBSD.org
Cc:        tech-net@NetBSD.org, Mindaugas Rasiukevicius <rmind@NetBSD.org>, guy@alum.mit.edu, freebsd-net@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: BPF_MISC+BPF_COP and BPF_COPX
Message-ID:  <38CDC9BB-09C7-4241-8746-163BD15B80EC@cs.columbia.edu>
In-Reply-To: <5203535D.2040508@netbsd.org>
References:  <20130804191310.2FFBB14A152@mail.netbsd.org> <5202693C.50608@netbsd.org> <20130807175548.1528014A21F@mail.netbsd.org> <5203535D.2040508@netbsd.org>

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On Aug 8, 2013, at 4:14 AM, Darren Reed <darrenr@NetBSD.org> wrote:
> 
> No. It's not about calling a function, it is about proving the BPF
> program is correct and secure.
> 
> BPF today is essentially assembly language operations that are all
> easily tested and verified.


There's a one-word summary: *assurance*.  With the current design,
it's easy to *know* what can happen.  With a Turing-complete extension,
it isn't.

Assurance is often what separates actually secure systems from ones that
are merely claimed to be secure.

		--Steve Bellovin, https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb








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