Gustaf Bjorksten wrote: > i disagree. The programmers i work with are well aware that they > /should/ be programming with a 'secure' mindset, but they just have no > idea where to start. The topic is outside their sphere of knowledge. Here's my suggestion for where to start: Don't assume that It Won't Happen If someone can obtain a benefit by Making It Happen, then there's a good chance that It Will Happen. What will happen if the string is too long? What if it contains "unusual" characters? What if the integer is negative, or zero? Simply asking oneself these questions certainly won't prevent all vulnerabilities. But several years of reading BugTraq suggest that it would have prevented a significant number of them. Even if you don't achieve perfection, the extent to which you fail may affect your reputation, at least amongst those who do understand the issues. Failing in the presence of an obscure signal-handling race may be viewed as a simple mistake. But if your software segfaults at address 0x41414141 when someone pastes 64K of 'A's into a text field, you may as well use "we don't give a damn about security" as your corporate slogan. -- Glynn Clements <glynn.clementsat_private>
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