Seems reasonable. I forgot to copy the list in my original response...

Stuart Remphrey
RMIT ITS Infrastructure Services - Unix Systems
Phone (03) 992 55 070  (or extension 55070)

>>> Rudolph Pereira <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 05-Oct-06 1:05:38 pm >>>
On Thu, Oct 05, 2006 at 11:44:21AM +1000, Rudolph Pereira wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 05, 2006 at 10:39:28AM +1000, Stuart Remphrey wrote:
> > Is there a reason you can't use IP addresses instead of hostnames
in
> > ipf.conf,
> > since the latter may also expose you in the event of a successful
DNS
> > attack
> > like DNS cache pollution, ARP/DNS spoof, etc?
> > 
> > ie. if possible IP Filter should not trust DNS -- which resolves
the
> > start order issue.
>
> Good point, but I think I'd rather have hostnames for maintainability
and am
> willing to accept the risk on the DNS insecurity, particularly as I
> (need to) trust the network to the DNS servers and the DNS servers
themselves.

Actually, I neglected to mention the main point :), that is:
given the current init script goes to great lengths to allow DNS to
work
(particularly the bits working around default-deny) it seems like
prohibiting use of DNS in ipf.conf wasn't the intention of the
author(s). I'm not saying that DNS should or shouldn't be used, just
that my patch:
- makes it slightly easier to do so should one want to do it
- fixes what seems to me to be an oversight rather than an intentional
  security feature

Sorry for not mentioning that in my original post; good to see some
response to it nonetheless. thanks

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