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Re: Hijacking Apache 2 via mod_perl


From: Ben Laurie <ben () algroup co uk>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:39:35 +0000

3APA3A wrote:

Dear Ben Laurie,

--Thursday, January 22, 2004, 6:53:01 PM, you wrote to linux_4ever () yahoo com:

BL> This is not a leak - mod_perl is a module that is compiled into Apache,
BL> and hence has access to all its resources (including memory). If you
BL> want to run untrusted Perl, then don't use mod_perl.

You're  right: mod_perl is inside apache memory space and can access any
descriptor, so it's impossible to blame apache descriptor is leaked. But
you're  wrong. mod_perl has access to memory, not perl script. At least,
it's  possible  to  store  descriptors  table  and  implement  check for
descriptor  in  every  perl  file/socket  function  inside mod_perl (and
mod_php  and mod_something) and only allow access to std descriptors and
to  descriptors open inside same script. The choice is between speed and
security.

OK, you _might_ be able to do this (but I'll bet you five beers you'll never make Perl secure enough to avoid circumvention), and I doubt it'd even noticably impact speed. This is not something Apache can fix, though.

Cheers,

Ben.

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

"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


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