syatem command and dummy fields

[Dennis Malen]

I'm sorry. I should have added that the lines person would not have access 
to those fields. It would only be myself or another programmer. The 
execution of the reports were set up in order that a lines person could 
provide input on some basic variables (such as dates) and could press the 
button. This could easily allow us to change the sequence or what was in the 
list of reports to run for a particular client (Sometimes up to 12 different 
sensitive reports per client).

The additional control was in the input processing to limit execution with 
certain parameters that had to be met and further controls in  the -v 
processing.

Obviously, I or a programmer could also make a mistake when inputting info 
in the specific record. That could be controlled by the types of reports 
that could be run and their parameters by input processing in order to 
execute the running of the report.

There are also many additional things that can be done in input processing 
to allow the user to easily see if he ran the report and when it was last 
done. Also the selection format such as dates and number of days etc. could 
also reside in the record and the processing would restrict mistakes in 
dates and when it could be run.

The foregoing seems to be of great value when timely and  sensitive reports 
must be run and alleviating mistakes when running the report manually from 
"request output" especially when cron is not a variable alternative. 
Additional mistakes could be made when manually entering the appropriate 
information in the selection format.

Does the foregoing satisfy some of the valid concerns that everyone had?

Dennis Malen
516.479.5912
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jay R. Ashworth" <jra at baylink.com>
To: <filepro-list at lists.celestial.com>
Sent: Monday, May 19, 2008 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: syatem command and dummy fields


> On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 10:09:25AM -0400, Dennis Malen wrote:
>> I am not clear on where you want me to remove the semi colons.
>
> I'll expand.
>
> The point Mark is making, Dennis, is this:
>
> By putting variables into the middle of string the system command is
> going to execute, you make the *contents of those variables* critical
> to the safety of the system around the programs.
>
> That is: if your program puts into those 2 variables any data that's
> directly supplied by a human, then you have to "sanitise" that data:
> you need to take out anything which -- if it ended up inside a SYSTEM
> command, could cause behaviour you don't want.
>
> What if, for example, you asked a user to supply the file name, and
> they said it was ";rm -rf /"?  Think about that for a minute, and you
> should see what problem he's talking about.
>
> Cheers,
> -- jra
> -- 
> Jay R. Ashworth                   Baylink 
> jra at baylink.com
> Designer                     The Things I Think                       RFC 
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