🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3bipc1$2mg@usenety1.news.prodigy.com>,
bill davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com> wrote:
>In article <seagullCzzzL6.FLz@netcom.com>, Seagull <seagull@netcom.com> wrote:
>| A little bird told me that bill davidsen (davidsen@tmr.com) wrote:
>
>| > when it's fixed, but you won't be able to test it because the problem is
>| > a SECRET only the few are allowed to know" policy translates to the
>| > crackers having the info on their mailing lists and BBS's, while
>| > legitimate system owners are in the dark.
>| 
>| This, IMHO, is not.  So your solution is to give every two-bit idiot
>| that doesn't have the brains to be a cracker, but enough brains to read
>| and be dangerous a sure-fire way of becoming 'root' on your system?

As someone else said, better the idiot than one who could exploit this
_without_ the knowledge in the exploitation scripts.

I'd rather have the exploitation scripts; I keep up with the newsgroup
DAILY for this very reason. If we were actually connected to the 'net
instead of just having phone dial-in, I'd read it several times a day.

>
>There's enough information for the crackers to know where to start,
>without me knowing the nature or magnitude of the risk.

Precisely. Any decent hacker wouldn't _need_ the exploitation script,
but merely knolwedge that there _was_ a hole (although granted the script
would make their job easier as well). I on the other hand am stuck here
going "Oh, right, like I could just _guess_ what the hole is, right?  And
like I have time to play with it til I figure out what it is."

>No, I don't intend to use a patch (if available) which is labeled "this
>fixes a security hole but we won't tell you what it was or how to test
>that you have it now and don't have it after this patch is applied."

Oh, and this as well.

I have a problem with just installing a program and taking it on faith, and
not having any clue what it is going to do. This _certainly_ applies to
patches that I don't understand the hole 'tis patching.

I'm still pissed that 8lgm is hamstrung in this way.