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Re: access(2)--a security hole?


From: jepstein () cordant com (Jeremy Epstein -C2 PROJECT)
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 08:40:41 -0400 (EDT)


the FreeBSD man page for access(2) includes a section titled "CAVEAT" 
which says that "Access() is a potential security hole and should never 
be used."

i looked into libc source and access is a typical system call--no real 
source at all, just enough assembler wrapper to generate a system call 
with the correct arguments.  the assembler is generated when libc is 
compiled through defines and other macros--real slick.

the actual syscall is executed in /sys/kern/vfs_syscalls.c, but i cant 
see why this is a hole.

can you enlighten me?

jmb 

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