cat /dev/urandom

[Lane]

On Tuesday 26 July 2005 17:35, Michael Beattie wrote:
> On 7/26/05, Matt Juszczak <matt at atopia.net> wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Quick question.
> >
> > shell# cat /dev/urandom
> >
> > can that executed as root cause any harm to the system?  What if a random
> > sequence of `rm *` was generated... would it be executed?
> >
> > I tried that to fix my terminal and forgot it might cause damage as root,
> > even if its just being cat'd to the screen.  I thought I saw some files
> > fly by which would indicate an execution of `ls`....
> >
> > Just curious....
>
> If you had a file with an rm * in it and you cat'd it would it execute?
> _______________________________________________
That's a good answer, but what if the command was:

`cat /dev/urandom`

could /dev/urandom generate arbitrary and potentially executable code?

I'm curious, too

lane