Sendmail and secure design

Sendmail and secure design
Jason Miller, 2006-05-01

Sendmail's wide market share, ancient code base and long vulnerability history make it an interesting example about the need for software to start from a secure design.

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An Example 2006-05-02
Anonymous

Sendmail and root??? 2006-05-02
Anonymous

Sendmail and secure design 2006-05-02
Robert Banz (rob@nofocus.org)

Sendmail and secure design 2006-05-02
J. Lasser

Sendmail 2006-05-03
Alexey Vesnin

Sendmail and secure design 2006-05-03
Matthew Murphy

I buy the idea that there are a finite number of vulnerabilities in any given code base. For instance, one given version of Sendmail, as-released, will only contain a certain number of bugs. This is only logical, as Sendmail is made up of a finite amount of code.

As such, maturity generally helps ferret out bugs. However, we have to be careful in fixing bugs (particularly design mistakes) that we don't introduce new errors.

Every change, even a vulnerability fix, has the potential to introduce new vulnerabilities. As such, only an absolutely static codebase will exhibit a static (finite) number of vulnerabilities. New code can increase the vulnerability total, and so long as the codebase continues to change, the risk potential is always there.

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/columns/400/33575#33575

Sendmail and root??? 2 2006-05-09
Anonymous