Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1998 17:54:30 +0100 From: Eivind Eklund <eivind@yes.no> To: cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/lib/libc/gen getpwent.c Message-ID: <19981217175430.B93539@follo.net> In-Reply-To: <199812171631.IAA26960@freefall.freebsd.org>; from Eivind Eklund on Thu, Dec 17, 1998 at 08:31:03AM -0800 References: <199812171631.IAA26960@freefall.freebsd.org>
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On Thu, Dec 17, 1998 at 08:31:03AM -0800, Eivind Eklund wrote: > eivind 1998/12/17 08:31:02 PST > > Modified files: > lib/libc/gen getpwent.c > Log: > Restore old semantics (broken in rev 1.47's buffer overflow fix). There have previously been two attempts to fix this problem by truncation. None of them have been quite right - the two-line fixup of the fix was done by one FreeBSD committer and reviewed by another, and still was wrong (no longer overflowable, but wrong semantics). This illustrate a point I have made repeatedly, both on Bugtraq and in various *BSD-lists: Truncation is usually wrong. If you are on an error path, look for some way to get a correct error return instead of truncating. In this case, it was trivial. In some cases it isn't (but remember - abort() is a usable error return, too), and truncation is the only option - but don't reach for it as your first tool. Eivind. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe cvs-all" in the body of the message
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