Re: SECURITY PROBLEM: autofs [all versions]

["Christopher W. Curtis" <ccurtis@aet-usa.com>]

Lars Wirzenius wrote:
> 
> [ I removed a number of people from the To and Cc lines. ]
> 
> "Christopher W. Curtis" <ccurtis@aet-usa.com>:
> > int main()
> > {     FILE *foo = popen( "non-executable.file", "r+ );
> >       fprintf( foo, "hmm" );
> > }
> 
> This crashes because popen returns NULL, and you use that value without
> checking for NULL. This is quite regardless of whether the program
> can be executed or not - popen has a large number of reasons why it can
> return NULL and anyone not checking the return value deserves to be
> eaten alive by bulimic carrier pigeons.

And the same should apply to init scripts that try to run a program
without first checking to see if it is executable.  As I said, "the lack
of a core dump does not mean it's correct".

Christopher