Security Issues
| From: | PHP | Date: | Tue, 24 Jul 2001 19:28:41 +0000 |
| Subject: | Security Issues | ||
| Groups: | php.dev | ||
| Request: | Send a blank email to php-dev+get-60895@lists.php.net to get a copy of this message | ||
Hey all,
I am new to this list so if this topic has already been beaten to death let me know.
I assume that many of you have already read this article
http://lwn.net/2001/0704/a/study-in-scarlet.php3
about many of the basic security risks you need to be aware of when developing in PHP. I was
curious what ideas have already been covered in the areas of stopping this. I also wanted to offer
up my own suggestion.
It seems that all the issues arise from the feature that sets PHP variable to be form variables.
The cleanest solution I can think of (albeit it breaks backward compatibility) would be to split the
names-pace of form variables. If normal or session variable stayed as $foo and $bar then form
variables would be %foo and %bar, or something similar. Breaking backward compatibility is bad but
it would allow future applications to be free of these dangers and could be something set in the
php.ini or rather a directive in the php script to allow old an new style scripts on the same
server.
If there is work already being done in this area please point me to where I can read more about it.
PHP is far and away the best web development language and is really only hindered by security
issues like this.
Orion