Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Wed, 28 Mar 2001 05:02:00 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Wed, 28 Mar 2001 05:01:51 -0500 Received: from hermine.idb.hist.no ([158.38.50.15]:53512 "HELO hermine.idb.hist.no") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id ; Wed, 28 Mar 2001 05:01:37 -0500 Message-ID: <3AC1B644.D5DE1181@idb.hist.no> Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2001 12:00:36 +0200 From: Helge Hafting X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.2 i686) X-Accept-Language: no, da, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Shawn Starr CC: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Disturbing news.. References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1185 Lines: 31 Shawn Starr wrote: > > http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-5329436.html?tag=lh > > Isn't it time to change the ELF format to stop this crap? > Nothing to worry about. A sane distribution have all executables installed read-only and owned by root or some non-user. Email appliacations and file browsers etc. are run as normal users. So, even if the user stupidly run this mysterious program he got in the mail - what happens? It search for all ELF executables in the system and find it can open none! They are not writeable, and the user don't own them so the bad program cannot change permissions in order to modify the executables either. About the only "danger" here is messing with a developer's program being developed, but he can recompile it and loose the virus that way. And a developer wouldn't trust a program he got in the mail in the first place. Those dumb enough don't have any writeable executables. Helge Hafting - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/