[Pkg-freeipmi-devel] Bug#690040: freeipmi: Build with PIE, bindnow, openfiles with O_EXCL and check return status

[Yaroslav Halchenko]

On Tue, 09 Oct 2012, Albert Chu wrote:
> > > Hmmmm. What would be the best thing to do?  I'm actually liking the idea
> > > of dumping to the current working directory, so that it's the
> > > responsibility of the developer to know what they are doing with this
> > > option.

> > and you are the boss here -- then O_EXCL should still be kinda useful
> > to preclude those evil acts as far as I see it -- the "developer" might
> > end up in /tmp after some wonder-abouts ;)

> > alternatively -- debug output filename could make use of mkstemp to
> > craft a unique filename

> Ahhh, never knew of mkstemp before.  I'll have to add that to memory :P
> I was just thinking of adding a PID to the filename, so the developer
> knows which run created the debug dumps.

PIDs are indeed good but considered "not random enough" to prevent such
types of attacks since the range of available PIDs is quite finite (not
to say that it could be narrowed down quite a bit).   I think it might
work if you do not like random names -- if it was e.g.

ipmiconsole_<PID>_<DATETIMESTAMP>.log

that would be very descriptive and unlikely to serve as a vector of an
attack. and it if manages to exist (i.e. with O_EXCL) -- you would
definitely know that you are under attack ;)

-- 
Yaroslav O. Halchenko
Postdoctoral Fellow,   Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Dartmouth College, 419 Moore Hall, Hinman Box 6207, Hanover, NH 03755
Phone: +1 (603) 646-9834                       Fax: +1 (603) 646-1419
WWW:   http://www.linkedin.com/in/yarik