Full Disclosure mailing list archives

Re: it\'s all about timing


From: full-disclosure () lists netsys com (Ron DuFresne)
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 2002 21:43:17 -0500 (CDT)


        [SNIP]

Your number 6 below:

"The Vendor MUST provide a facility for individuals or
  organizations who are not Customers to report vulnerabilities"

This to me sounds like it is acceptable that there are going to be
vulnerabilities. Continue cranking out shodware because we have a set
of guidelines that people who stumble across them are expected to
adhere to.

Vulnerabilities will happen, even in the best of circumstances, as
long as new types of vulnerabilities are discovered.  If there are 20
individuals who decide to audit a package for a new type of
vulnerability, but the vendor only has 5 developers, then it seems
like there's a good chance that someone other than the vendor will
discover the issue.  Then you've got "interaction" vulnerabilities,
which I loosely define as when a vulnerability occurs in the way that
two products interact with each other.  Developers can't always
predict how their product will be used, or how it will interact with
other products, so interaction-based vulnerabilities may be around in
one form or another.


But seriously, what's new about buffer overflows, which are the main cause
of vunls in software now as they were in the 1980's and prior when the
morris worm hit[1].  How about repeat issue with the same products, like
the M$ sql server issues <not that M$ is the only vendor with products
that sink time and again>?


What 'new types of vulnerabilities' are being discovered?


        [SNIP]


Thanks,

Ron DuFresne
[1] http://sysinfo.com/iworms.html (our shameless plug)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Cutting the space budget really restores my faith in humanity.  It
eliminates dreams, goals, and ideals and lets us get straight to the
business of hate, debauchery, and self-annihilation." -- Johnny Hart
        ***testing, only testing, and damn good at it too!***

OK, so you're a Ph.D.  Just don't touch anything.



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