Messages in this thread |  | | Date | Mon, 01 Jul 1996 14:20:29 -0600 (CST) | From | Aaron Ucko <> | Subject | Re: Network performance |
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> Interesting...how was this made secure? The OS must have implemented shared > libs in such a way that library code was privileged but user code wasn't... > I don't even want to THINK about statically linked binaries! :-) Reminds > me of Hurd, though. > > Why does the library code need to be privileged? Read and write can be built > out of memory mapping primitives without security problems so long as the > kernel implements the proper access rights on the underlying mapped object. > Naturally, installing a new type manager required the appropriate access rights > itself. As for static linking, the global libraries were *never* statically > linked into anything. It just wasn't possible or necessary. > > Leonard > > >The system of privileged libraries is used in IBM's MVS (don't shoot, >please) it would be nice to have it for SVGAlib games. Running suid >root too much programs and specially games makes me nervous: it is an >open door to virusses. With privileged libraries the program would be >suid root only when executing library code (got from a secure source) and >not the entire game you don't know where it comes from.
Secure privileged libraries would cause too many headaches to be worth the trouble. Besides, a better solution to the SVGAlib situation is in the works anyway: GGI. GGI would add a small amount of code to the kernel to allow for safe video card access by everyday programs, so that SVGAlib programs, X servers, etc. would no longer have to be setuid.
-- Aaron Ucko (ucko@vax1.rockhurst.edu; finger for PGP public key) | Geek Code 3.1 [for explanation, finger hayden@mankato.msus.edu]: GCS/M/S/C d- s+: a18 C++(+++)>++++ UL++>+++ P++(+++) L+++(++++)>+++++ E- W+(-) N++(+) o+ K- w--- O M-@ V-(--) PS++(+++) PE- Y+ PGP(+) t(+) !5 X-- R(-) tv-@ b++(+++) DI+ D-- G++(+++) e>+++++(*) h!>+ r-(--)>+++ y? | "That's right," he said. "We're philosophers. We think, therefore we am." -- Terry Pratchett, _Small Gods_
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