Subject: mktemp() and directories
To: None <tech-security@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Luke Mewburn <lukem@connect.com.au>
List: tech-security
Date: 06/09/1997 21:53:04
I've been asked about the implications of mktemp() for creating
temporary directories. There was a concern that there may be
exploitable race conditions.
Well, I did some testing, and it appears that if you do something
like:
cd /tmp
rm source dest
ln -s source dest # now, source is a link pointing to a
non-existant dest
mkdir(source, 0755) # returns EEXIST
So, from this, I don't think that there is an exploitable race.
A denial of service may be possible, but that's not in the same
league.
Have I missed something?