-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Tue, 19 Sep 1995, Bill Stewart wrote:
Of course, one of the most serious security problems with Netscape servers is that they run on machines sitting out there on the Internet where anybody who can browse their services can attack them - that 128-bit bullet-proof iron-clad front door isn't much help if the garage door is unlocked because of some sendmail bug.
Or- even easier yet- improper httpd installation or users who have not been properly trained. NCSA's default configuration file makes document root a subtree. One major institution I deal with regularly (and the administrators should know better) changed the default setting, allowing users to store html files in their home directory. And, it seems, the file permissions were too lax. If a user had no index.html then I could just cruise through their home directory, view most files and, in some (inappropriate) cases, download them. I told the administrator, and mailed him a copy of a user's address book (she was a friend and knew what I was doing before I did it). The situation has changed and is now more secure. But I wonder how many other institutions have an inappropriate DocumentRoot so (I guess) users can have a "single home directory"? =========================================================================== Henry W. Farkas | Me? Speak for IBM? Fat chance. hfarkas@ims.advantis.com |------------------------------------------------ hfarkas@vnet.ibm.com | http://newstand.ims.advantis.com/henry henry@nhcc.com | http://www.nhcc.com/~henry - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- PGP 6.2.2 Key fingerprint: AA D0 F5 44 C1 8C 11 52 B3 80 34 1C CE 38 EC 53 Public key at: pgp-public-keys@pgp.mit.edu, and other popular key servers. - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brought to you by Henry's Hardware: Home of the Pretty Good Hack "We're not fast, but it's not bad, and we're cheaper than the guy down the street!" =========================================================================== -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 Comment: Auto-signed with Bryce's Auto-PGP v1.0beta iQCVAwUBMF7nGKDthkLkvrK9AQEIbwQAl7k86Tk4gY/KU9JYS4lyI63fH4lJYTHw +Pl85cx3M/RI/kO8N9ZaUih4Hh+8CnNl7xA6NWtURfcSuCCgW3mrdRbKT8KTW/3M hohmv3yyyU2Ot24B4hb2/lZN5s/fR2JMdsWhKoZdm19xnlQIMBjidP6zxcavE/JC GNbJm94mBIA= =L0lD -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----