Messages in this thread | | | Date | Sun, 23 Jul 2000 12:18:53 +0100 (BST) | From | James Sutherland <> | Subject | Re: Does this help explain better?? ATA/IDE Thread |
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On Sat, 22 Jul 2000, TimO wrote:
> "H. Peter Anvin" wrote: > > > > Followup to: <Pine.LNX.4.10.10007212041090.15902-100000@master.linux-ide.org> > > By author: Andre Hedrick <andre@linux-ide.org> > > In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel > > > > > > Everyone > > > > > > I am talking about attempting to invoke unknown vender specific commands > > > They do comply with the SPEC but are not part of the SPEC. > > > Since I do not have the priviledge of knowing these facts, but know they > > > exist. You can not allow a rouge driver attempt to invoke these commands. > > > > > > > A rogue driver can always do this by writing straight to the > > interface. I think a more serious issue is: what about a *buggy* > > drivers? However, what I am a bit unclear of is the following: will > > this patch prevent me from writing a driver which issues legitimate > > vendor-specific commands to control vendor-specific aspects of a > > particular piece of hardware? If so, that would be a very bad thing. > > However, if this patch is there to prevent buggy programs from issuing > > known-to-be-damaging commands by accient, then that is a Good > > Thing[TM]. > > Vendor-specific commands would not be allowed through the kernel. A > specific program for a specific vendor would have to use RAW_IO; ie > for firmware upgrades.
NO. They can/will use RAW_IO *IF* this is available to them. If not, they will have to provide a proper kernel driver for their hardware. I know which I prefer...
> > I personally would have to agree with the people that say this isn't a > > security issue, but I *do* believe that protecting buggy programs (we > > never have any of those, right?) from causing permanent damage to the > > hardware is a very useful thing. > > This is EXACTLY what Andre is trying to accomplish.
Yep - WTF is wrong with that?
James.
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