Re: [SECURITY] DoS attack on backend possible (was: Re: - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Justin Clift
Subject Re: [SECURITY] DoS attack on backend possible (was: Re:
Date
Msg-id 3D569050.87E7A4CA@postgresql.org
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql-server/src include/utils/timestamp.h bac ...  (Florian Weimer <Weimer@CERT.Uni-Stuttgart.DE>)
Responses Re: [SECURITY] DoS attack on backend possible (was: Re:  (Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>)
Re: [SECURITY] DoS attack on backend possible (was: Re:  (Florian Weimer <Weimer@CERT.Uni-Stuttgart.DE>)
List pgsql-hackers
Hi Florian,

Am I understanding this right:
- A PostgreSQL 7.2.1 server can be crashed if it gets passed certain
date values which would be accepted by standard "front end" parsing? 
So, a web application layer can request a date from a user, do standard
integrity checks (like looking for weird characters and formatting
hacks) on the date given, then use the date as part of a SQL query, and
PostgreSQL will die?

?

Regards and best wishes,

Justin Clift


Florian Weimer wrote:
> 
> Justin Clift <justin@postgresql.org> writes:
> 
> > Is it possible to crash a 7.2.1 backend without having an entry in the
> > pg_hba.conf file?
> 
> No, but think of web applications and things like that.  The web
> frontend might pass in a date string which crashes the server backend.
> Since the crash can be triggered by mere data, an attacker does not
> have to be able to send specific SQL statements to the server.
> 
> --
> Florian Weimer                    Weimer@CERT.Uni-Stuttgart.DE
> University of Stuttgart           http://CERT.Uni-Stuttgart.DE/people/fw/
> RUS-CERT                          fax +49-711-685-5898

-- 
"My grandfather once told me that there are two kinds of people: those
who work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the
first group; there was less competition there."  - Indira Gandhi


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