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Re: #651510 (gpw) - Not sure if security bug



tag 651510 security
thanks
On lun., 2012-01-16 at 11:30 +0100, Michael Stummvoll wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> last month I filed the bug #651510 against gpw. Short version of this bug:

Hi, sorry for the delay.
> 
> gpw is a password generator util. The user provides the length of 
> password and gpw generates one or some with this.
> The bug brings gpw to generate shorter passwords then provided in some 
> cases.
> This case is very seldom:
> in ~20 out of 1 mio, the password is shorter then provided - for an 
> provided length on 10.
> and in ~5-10 out of 1 mio, the password is only 3 chars long (should be 
> independ of provided length)
> 
> This rate should'nt affect an normal user I think. But e.g. if used in a 
> script for automaticly generation of logins, that could be security 
> relevant if a 3-char-password is assumed as a secure password.

Agreed, the manpage is pretty specific about that, the passwords are
supposed to be of the specified length.
> 
> However, this case looks very constructed to me.
> I hoped for a response from maintainer to get a clear point if he see 
> this bug as security-bug, but since i filed it a month ago, nothing 
> happened, and i am still not sure about the servity of this bug.

To me that's definitely a security issue, though I'm not sure how much
people use gpw in a script (or gpw at all).
> 
> Now, i am thinking about to retag it to security, but therefore I want 
> to obtain some opinions here.

That'd be a start, but note that gpw doesn't look like the most
maintained piece of software.

Regards,
-- 
Yves-Alexis

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