Text relocations in kernel modules

[Tom Evans]

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 5:49 PM, Richard Yao <ryao at cs.stonybrook.edu> wrote:
> On 04/02/12 05:56, Tom Evans wrote:
>> On Sat, Mar 31, 2012 at 3:42 AM, Richard Yao <ryao at cs.stonybrook.edu> wrote:
>>>> There are no security implications, no system resources to be wasted.
>>>>
>>>> And if you think there are security implications, then lets see a
>>>> proof-of-concept.
>>>
>>> If I find time to write a proof-of-concept, I promise to publish it
>>> publicly. Your security team will find out when everyone else does.
>>
>> Richard, I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish here. You have
>> had a clear explanation of why certain things are done in a certain
>> way in the FreeBSD codebase, and a confirmation that they do not think
>> it causes any security issues in FreeBSD.
>>
>> Your response is to threaten to write an exploit against FreeBSD, and
>> distribute it publicly before disclosing to security at .
>
> Some people believe that projects that do not take proper
> countermeasures against security vulnerabilities do not deserve to have
> special notification of issues. I happen to be one of them.

This is a straw man argument - FreeBSD does take proper
countermeasures against security vulnerabilities - and so your
conclusion that you can blithely fully disclose vulnerabilities with
no moral concerns is a logical fallacy.

You have posited that this is a vulnerability to FreeBSD (based upon
checks put in place for a Linux project) whilst many FreeBSD
committers have said that you are mistaken, and it does not do so.

If you disagree with them, then show them by example or argument that
they are wrong. If you think they are wrong and that it is a
vulnerability to FreeBSD, you should be discussing this off list in
detail with the sec team - security-officer at FreeBSD.org

Threatening to jeopardise FreeBSD's security by public disclosure,
with no discussion with the FreeBSD security team is a puerile way of
acting, and does neither you, your university nor Gentoo any favours.

> I suggest that you look at things from my perspective. I asked a simple
> question on your mailing list. I then received several private emails
> from various FreeBSD developers insulting my intelligence for the act of
> asking a question. Who is the "ass" here?
>

I can't comment as to what people said to you off-list, I'm not party
to that. What you said on-list:

> If I find time to write a proof-of-concept, I promise to publish it
> publicly. Your security team will find out when everyone else does.

that is "ass" territory.

Cheers

Tom