Re: Question about the latest security patch - malicious usage

2002-08-13 Thread Ben Laurie

Jeffrey Altman wrote:
Jeffrey Altman wrote:

The answer to your questions is 'yes'.  As I understand it, the
patches were released as they are for the time being because it is
better to crash your application then allow the attacker to compromise
your computer.

New patches will have to be released to properly correct the problem
in the very near future.

Note that changing unexploitable die()s to internal errors is a mistake: 
it is not safe to continue after an internal error!

Cheers,

Ben.
 
 
 This is true IFF the internal error is the result of a memory
 overwrite condition that could have compromised the application; but
 if the problem is something that we were able to identify before any
 damage is done (such as the recent protocol error checks) then the
 error must be returned to the application.  The library is often just
 one small part of an overall application.  Introducing easy to trigger
 denial of service attacks is unacceptable.  

I agree. This is precisely my point.

Cheers,

Ben.

-- 
http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html   http://www.thebunker.net/

Available for contract work.

There is no limit to what a man can do or how far he can go if he
doesn't mind who gets the credit. - Robert Woodruff

__
OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org
Development Mailing List   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Automated List Manager   [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Question about the latest security patch - malicious usage

2002-08-11 Thread Jeffrey Altman

 Jeffrey Altman wrote:
  The answer to your questions is 'yes'.  As I understand it, the
  patches were released as they are for the time being because it is
  better to crash your application then allow the attacker to compromise
  your computer.
  
  New patches will have to be released to properly correct the problem
  in the very near future.
 
 Note that changing unexploitable die()s to internal errors is a mistake: 
 it is not safe to continue after an internal error!
 
 Cheers,
 
 Ben.

This is true IFF the internal error is the result of a memory
overwrite condition that could have compromised the application; but
if the problem is something that we were able to identify before any
damage is done (such as the recent protocol error checks) then the
error must be returned to the application.  The library is often just
one small part of an overall application.  Introducing easy to trigger
denial of service attacks is unacceptable.  



 Jeffrey Altman * Sr.Software Designer Kermit 95 2.0 GUI available now!!!
 The Kermit Project @ Columbia University  SSH, Secure Telnet, Secure FTP, HTTP
 http://www.kermit-project.org/Secured with MIT Kerberos, SRP, and 
 [EMAIL PROTECTED]   OpenSSL.
__
OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org
Development Mailing List   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Automated List Manager   [EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Question about the latest security patch - malicious usage

2002-08-10 Thread Ben Laurie

Jeffrey Altman wrote:
 The answer to your questions is 'yes'.  As I understand it, the
 patches were released as they are for the time being because it is
 better to crash your application then allow the attacker to compromise
 your computer.
 
 New patches will have to be released to properly correct the problem
 in the very near future.

Note that changing unexploitable die()s to internal errors is a mistake: 
it is not safe to continue after an internal error!

Cheers,

Ben.

-- 
http://www.apache-ssl.org/ben.html

Available for contract work.



__
OpenSSL Project http://www.openssl.org
Development Mailing List   [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Automated List Manager   [EMAIL PROTECTED]