freebsd-questions Digest, Vol 276, Issue 5

[James Phillips]

> 
> Message: 15
> Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:13:17 -0400
> From: Jerry <gesbbb at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: reporter on deadline seeks comment about
> reported
>     security bug in FreeBSD
> To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
> Message-ID: <20090915141317.7a41b042 at scorpio.seibercom.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> On Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:18:29 -0400
> Bill Moran <wmoran at potentialtech.com>
> wrote:
> 
<SNIP!>
> 
> The fact is, that you do in fact notify me. Keeping
> important security
> information secret benefits no one, except for possibly
> those
> responsible for the problem to begin with who do not want
> the
> knowledge of the problem to become public. A multitude of
> software,
> such as Mozilla, publish known security holes in their
> software.
> The ramifications of allowing a user to actively use a
> piece of
> software when a known bug/exploit/etc. exists within it is
> grossly
> negligent.
>   

The important question is: known by whom?
Every reviewer brings their own bias and experience. The code has not been "proven correct," so there is not reason to assume that a Black-hat will find the same bug/exploit. If there are more than about 3 unknown exploits, they are more likely to find a different one.

IMO, Mozilla is a bad example. I've been bitten by (non-security) bugs going back to 1.5 or earlier. Disclosure: I still prefer Lynx.


<SNIP!>

> 


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