fun with the web and security

[David A Wagner]

> This has been discussed a lot in the URI working groups since around 92. 
> I think it's actually documented in the RFC

Really?  Could you give me any pointers to read up on?

I searched extensively at www.w3.org, and I did find the following
excerpt in RFC1738 under Security Considerations:

   A URL-related security threat is that it is sometimes possible to
   construct a URL such that an attempt to perform a harmless idempotent
   operation such as the retrieval of the object will in fact cause a
   possibly damaging remote operation to occur.  The unsafe URL is
   typically constructed by specifying a port number other than that
   reserved for the network protocol in question.  The client
   unwittingly contacts a server which is in fact running a different
   protocol.  The content of the URL contains instructions which when
   interpreted according to this other protocol cause an unexpected
   operation. An example has been the use of gopher URLs to cause a rude
   message to be sent via a SMTP server.  Caution should be used when
   using any URL which specifies a port number other than the default
   for the protocol, especially when it is a number within the reserved
   space.

I don't think this addresses exactly the same thing I was talking
about-- I'm talking about a way to exploit arbitrary security holes,
even against machines (normally) protected inside a firewall.

It is interesting to see the caution above, though-- I was unaware of
its existence.  I also found the following in the same RFC:

   Care should be taken when URLs contain embedded encoded delimiters
   for a given protocol (for example, CR and LF characters for telnet
   protocols) that these are not unencoded before transmission.  This
   would violate the protocol but could be used to simulate an extra
   operation or parameter, again causing an unexpected and possible
   harmful remote operation to be performed.

which Netscape violates in the gopher: protocol.  However, I also note
that the same RFC specifically addresses the gopher protocol in
Section 3.4.9, and concludes that the client needs to decode embedded
%-escaped newlines and send them as true newlines to the gopher server;
thus, the RFC appears to be self-contradictory, as far as I can tell.
Netscape follows Section 3.4.9.  Furthermore, I should point out that
even if clients were changed so that they didn't unencode %-escaped
newlines in URLs for the gopher: protocol, I believe sendmail bugs
could still be exploited-- Ian has discovered a way to send arbitrary
email messages with arbitrary headers to arbitrary hosts by abusing
the mailto: URL, which should be sufficient to exploit several sendmail
bugs behind a firewall.

So was that what you were talking about, or was there more discussion?