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Re: Bug#405997: should executables be permitted to update themselves?



On Sun, Jan 14, 2007 at 07:51:22PM -0000, Michael Gilbert wrote:
> On Jan 14, 1:10 pm, "Shaun Jackman" wrote:
> > On a stable Debian system, system-wide upgrades can be far between. I
> > prefer to give the user a choice of whether to use the update system
> > provided by the upstream author to update the software before the next
> > stable release of Debian.
> 
> like i said originally, my primary concern is security (although
> dfsg-ness and the issues described by others in this thread are quite
> important as well).  allowing azureus to go out and get its own
> executable subjects the user to potentially malicious code that
> otherwise would not be there.  two things could happen -- the upstream
> jar could introduce new unfixed flaws and/or vulnerabilities that are
> being exploited, or a man-in-the-middle could replace the upstream jar
> with his own malicious jar.  apt uses signed packages to prevent the
> man-in-the middle and debian's security team makes sure that all
> security flaws are addressed.
> 

For info, should a security update be issued, it will updtae the files
in /usr. How would this affect files in ~/azureus?

I'm not sure we'll be able to provide good security support if other
random things are downloaded.

Neil
-- 
<gwolf> bah.... Germans. You just put 100 DDs in one country and then they all
	become friends of each other.

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