"thread failed to start: " is better than "Died:".

[perl5.git] / pod / perlsec.pod

diff --git a/pod/perlsec.pod b/pod/perlsec.pod
index 622e25f..d5effd9 100644 (file)
--- a/pod/perlsec.pod
+++ b/pod/perlsec.pod
@@ -44,18 +44,39 @@ directories, or processes, B<with the following exceptions>:
 
 =item *
 
-If you pass a list of arguments to either C<system> or C<exec>,
-the elements of that list are B<not> checked for taintedness.
+If you pass more than one argument to either C<system> or C<exec>,
+the arguments are checked for taintedness B<but> the operation will still
+be attempted, emitting an optional warning.  This will be fatal in a 
+future version of perl so do not rely on it to bypass the tainting 
+mechanism.
 
 =item *
 
 Arguments to C<print> and C<syswrite> are B<not> checked for taintedness.
 
+=item *
+
+Symbolic methods
+
+    $obj->$method(@args);
+
+and symbolic sub references
+
+    &{$foo}(@args);
+    $foo->(@args);
+
+are not checked for taintedness.  This requires extra carefulness
+unless you want external data to affect your control flow.  Unless
+you carefully limit what these symbolic values are, people are able
+to call functions B<outside> your Perl code, such as POSIX::system,
+in which case they are able to run arbitrary external code.
+
 =back
 
-Any variable set to a value
-derived from tainted data will itself be tainted, even if it is
-logically impossible for the tainted data to alter the variable.
+The value of an expression containing tainted data will itself be
+tainted, even if it is logically impossible for the tainted data to
+affect the value.
+
 Because taintedness is associated with each scalar value, some
 elements of an array can be tainted and others not.
 
@@ -71,7 +92,8 @@ For example:
     $data = 'abc';             # Not tainted
 
     system "echo $arg";                # Insecure
-    system "/bin/echo", $arg;  # Secure (doesn't use sh)
+    system "/bin/echo", $arg;  # Allowed but considered insecure
+                               # (Perl doesn't know about /bin/echo)
     system "echo $hid";                # Insecure
     system "echo $data";       # Insecure until PATH set
 
@@ -86,17 +108,17 @@ For example:
     open(FOO, "< $arg");       # OK - read-only file
     open(FOO, "> $arg");       # Not OK - trying to write
 
-    open(FOO,"echo $arg|");    # Not OK, but...
+    open(FOO,"echo $arg|");    # Not OK
     open(FOO,"-|")
-       or exec 'echo', $arg;   # OK
+       or exec 'echo', $arg;   # Allowed but not really OK
 
     $shout = `echo $arg`;      # Insecure, $shout now tainted
 
     unlink $data, $arg;                # Insecure
     umask $arg;                        # Insecure
 
-    exec "echo $arg";          # Insecure (uses the shell)
-    exec "echo", $arg;         # Secure (doesn't use the shell)
+    exec "echo $arg";          # Insecure
+    exec "echo", $arg;         # Allowed but considered insecure
     exec "sh", '-c', $arg;     # Considered secure, alas!
 
     @files = <*.c>;            # insecure (uses readdir() or similar)
@@ -107,10 +129,14 @@ For example:
     # either case the result is tainted since the list of filenames comes
     # from outside of the program.
 
+    $bad = ($arg, 23);         # $bad will be tainted
+    $arg, `true`;              # Insecure (although it isn't really)
+
 If you try to do something insecure, you will get a fatal error saying
 something like "Insecure dependency" or "Insecure $ENV{PATH}".  Note that you
 can still write an insecure B<system> or B<exec>, but only by explicitly
-doing something like the "considered secure" example above.
+doing something like the "considered secure" example above.  This will not
+be possible in a future version of Perl.
 
 =head2 Laundering and Detecting Tainted Data
 
@@ -121,10 +147,7 @@ nearby CPAN mirror, and included in Perl starting from the release 5.8.0.
 Or you may be able to use the following I<is_tainted()> function.
 
     sub is_tainted {
-       return ! eval {
-           join('',@_), kill 0;
-           1;
-       };
+        return ! eval { eval("#" . substr(join("", @_), 0, 0)); 1 };
     }
 
 This function makes use of the fact that the presence of tainted data
@@ -236,7 +259,7 @@ not called with a string that the shell could expand.  This is by far the
 best way to call something that might be subjected to shell escapes: just
 never call the shell at all.  
 
-        use English;
+        use English '-no_match_vars';
         die "Can't fork: $!" unless defined($pid = open(KID, "-|"));
         if ($pid) {           # parent
             while (<KID>) {
@@ -367,6 +390,13 @@ Your access to it does not give you permission to use it blah blah
 blah."  You should see a lawyer to be sure your licence's wording will
 stand up in court.
 
+=head2 Unicode
+
+Unicode is a new and complex technology and one may easily overlook
+certain security pitfalls.  See L<perluniintro> for an overview and
+L<perlunicode> for details, and L<perlunicode/"Security Implications
+of Unicode"> for security implications in particular.
+
 =head1 SEE ALSO
 
 L<perlrun> for its description of cleaning up environment variables.