Re: rpc.ypupdated

[martin () mrrl lut ac uk (Martin Hamilton)]

John Line writes:

| Er... what if the remote site's fingerd returns output which uses UCB mail's
| ~-escapes to run commands, or amend the headers and mail "interesting" files
| somewhere? [I don't think I'll stick my neck out in this forum and risk
| any suggestions about better ways to send the mail! :-)]

How about "safe_finger" ? (from the TCP wrapper distribution... ;-)

  * safe_finger - finger client wrapper that protects against nasty stuff
  * from finger servers. Use this program for automatic reverse finger
  * probes, not the raw finger command.
  *
  * Build with: cc -o safe_finger safe_finger.c
  *
  * The problem: some programs may react to stuff in the first column. Other
  * programs may get upset by thrash anywhere on a line. File systems may
  * fill up as the finger server keeps sending data. Text editors may bomb
  * out on extremely long lines. The finger server may take forever because
  * it is somehow wedged. The code below takes care of all this badness.
  *
  * Author: Wietse Venema, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Cheerio,

Martin