Re: Draft CERT bulletin (was Re: LYNX-DEV security.html)

[Hynek Med]

On Mon, 7 Jul 1997, Jim Spath (Webmaster Jim) wrote:

> A malicious user with access to the same machine as other Lynx users may be
> able to cause another user's Lynx process to overwrite another file on the
> system (in the user's home directory, for example).

I'd like to add her something like "..with the content of the file the
lynx user downloads/prints/whatever. Fortunately the content of the file
isn't in the hands of the malicious user (it depends on what does the
innocent user download/print/..", or something to this effect in more
official style. 

> The file overwritten
> could potentially be one containing important information or a file such as
> .rhosts (if the file being downloaded was rigged correctly, the attacker
> could log in to the account without a password) or .profile (causing possibly
> dangerous commands to be executed by the user when he/she next logs in).

What about noting the danger of lynx being run as root and
symlinking/hardlinking the temporary file to point to /dev/sda or other
horrible things? 

Hynek

--
Hynek Med, address@hidden




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