Re: dpkg/main/help.c
Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org> wrote:
> > You mean `mount --bind'? No, definitely not. `root' still needs to
> > be able to replace the files, and it is not acceptable for one vserver
> > to be able to alter another vserver's files in any way.
> Then you are asking for special casing for an off-the-wall situation.
> Removing that part of the dpkg code opens up all sorts of security
> issues, so it cannot be bypassed.
I'm just having a hard time seeing why you even care whether or not the
chmod() fails or not - you're about to unlink the file!
If chmod() returns EPERM and you are root, then you probably:
a) have the filesystem mounted read-only
b) are trying to change permissions on a file that is immutable
In both of these cases, the subsequent unlink() will also fail and no
security is lost.
I guess what I'm attacking is a basic assumption by dpkg about the nature
of the filesystem that it is running on, that it is free to alter existing
files how it sees fit - though the normal unix convention is not to alter
existing files but to rename things on top of them.
Would you accept a patch to configure this behaviour?
--
Sam Vilain, sam@vilain.net WWW: http://sam.vilain.net/
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If it doesn't have recursive function calls, real software engineers
don't program in it.
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