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| author | Stefan Kangas | 2019-10-24 01:08:20 +0200 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Stefan Kangas | 2019-10-24 01:08:20 +0200 |
| commit | 61223a046c37d44f67e6600909439d32f8dd34f9 (patch) | |
| tree | 282424b2d51c7e756719831b0e9e3d15c9736d85 /doc/misc | |
| parent | 53e7a763dd16509d90418bdf14d161db13271ea3 (diff) | |
| download | emacs-61223a046c37d44f67e6600909439d32f8dd34f9.tar.gz emacs-61223a046c37d44f67e6600909439d32f8dd34f9.zip | |
Update FAQ section on Emacs security (Bug#37818)
* doc/misc/efaq.texi (Security risks with Emacs): Remove section on
movemail. Add section on third-party packages.
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/misc')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/misc/efaq.texi | 23 |
1 files changed, 6 insertions, 17 deletions
diff --git a/doc/misc/efaq.texi b/doc/misc/efaq.texi index b45db4c84fe..0b7b6d9c9f2 100644 --- a/doc/misc/efaq.texi +++ b/doc/misc/efaq.texi | |||
| @@ -3207,23 +3207,12 @@ You can tell Emacs the shell's current directory with the command | |||
| 3207 | @itemize @bullet | 3207 | @itemize @bullet |
| 3208 | 3208 | ||
| 3209 | @item | 3209 | @item |
| 3210 | The @file{movemail} incident. (No, this is not a risk.) | 3210 | Third party packages. |
| 3211 | 3211 | ||
| 3212 | In his book @cite{The Cuckoo's Egg}, Cliff Stoll describes this in | 3212 | Any package you install into Emacs can run arbtitrary code with the |
| 3213 | chapter 4. The site at LBL had installed the @file{/etc/movemail} | 3213 | same privileges as the Emacs process itself. Be aware of this when |
| 3214 | program setuid root. (As of version 19, @file{movemail} is in your | 3214 | you use the package system (e.g. @code{M-x list-packages}) with third |
| 3215 | architecture-specific directory; type @kbd{C-h v exec-directory | 3215 | party archives. Use only third parties that you can trust! |
| 3216 | @key{RET}} to see what it is.) Since @code{movemail} had not been | ||
| 3217 | designed for this situation, a security hole was created and users could | ||
| 3218 | get root privileges. | ||
| 3219 | |||
| 3220 | @code{movemail} has since been changed so that this security hole will | ||
| 3221 | not exist, even if it is installed setuid root. However, | ||
| 3222 | @code{movemail} no longer needs to be installed setuid root, which | ||
| 3223 | should eliminate this particular risk. | ||
| 3224 | |||
| 3225 | We have heard unverified reports that the 1988 Internet worm took | ||
| 3226 | advantage of this configuration problem. | ||
| 3227 | 3216 | ||
| 3228 | @item | 3217 | @item |
| 3229 | The @code{file-local-variable} feature. (Yes, a risk, but easy to | 3218 | The @code{file-local-variable} feature. (Yes, a risk, but easy to |