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Date:      Wed, 1 Dec 1999 17:22:27 +0100
From:      Brad Knowles <blk@skynet.be>
To:        Warner Losh <imp@village.org>, tstromberg@rtci.com
Cc:        freebsd-audit@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Where to start? Heres a few overflows.
Message-ID:  <v04205513b46afa98c429@[195.238.21.204]>
In-Reply-To: <199912011609.JAA02320@harmony.village.org>
References:  <384527B9.3A3E3C41@rtci.com>  <38445A6A.50245AF5@rtci.com> <199911302322.QAA05983@harmony.village.org> <199912011609.JAA02320@harmony.village.org>

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At 9:09 AM -0700 1999/12/1, Warner Losh wrote:

> Yes.  However, this buffer overflow appears to be benign given the
> memory layout.  I did an extensive analysis of this which I sent to
> Thomas a while ago which showed that it was a bug, but not a
> penetration bug.

	As I recall, one of the goals that OpenBSD used in their audit 
process was that they fixed bugs wherever they ran across them, 
regardless of whether they believed they were exploitable.  This has 
protected them against a number of exploits that have since become 
known, since the bug that someone is trying to exploit simply no 
longer exists under OpenBSD.

	Do we not want to employ the same kind of methodology, or have I 
missed something here?


	Also, what about the OpenBSD approach whereby security becomes 
inherently integrated into the entire development process, as opposed 
to something you try to add later?

	Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems to me that the entire 
audit project is doomed to ultimately fail if we can't ensure that 
bugs, once fixed, remain that way.

-- 
   These are my opinions -- not to be taken as official Skynet policy
  ____________________________________________________________________
|o| Brad Knowles, <blk@skynet.be>            Belgacom Skynet NV/SA |o|
|o| Systems Architect, News & FTP Admin      Rue Col. Bourg, 124   |o|
|o| Phone/Fax: +32-2-706.11.11/12.49         B-1140 Brussels       |o|
|o| http://www.skynet.be                     Belgium               |o|
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  Unix is like a wigwam -- no Gates, no Windows, and an Apache inside.
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