GNU bug report logs - #30912
[bug-gnu-emacs] emacs as a route to privilege escalation

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From: Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>
To: Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org>
Cc: 30912 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, beebe <at> math.utah.edu
Subject: bug#30912: emacs as a route to privilege escalation
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2018 14:15:28 -0400

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  > It seems to be pure nonsense.  You can't edit root's ~/.emacs without
  > root privilege.

In principle, that should be the case, but sometimes it isn't.

Basically, it is true if the kernel has no bugs.
However, the kernel often does have a bug which can 
be used for "privilege escalation."  When such an exploit
is available, problems in user programs can be used to take
control of the computer.

But this does not require a add-on.  Bugs in programs that
display files obtained over the web, even files that are not
supposed to contain code at all, can be used to do this.

It is a real problem.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman
President, Free Software Foundation (https://gnu.org, https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)
Skype: No way! See https://stallman.org/skype.html.

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