I repeat: there is no way a language can prevent illicit activity if it is within the user's security profile
Well, that's the whole point behind a language based security model like in E. A program doesn't run with the security profile of the user which invokes it. In fact it has the least amount of privledge necessary. There is even a name for it, the Principle of Least Authority. Here's another paper worth reading. The Structure of Authority: Why security is not a separable concern
Common programming practice grants excess authority for the sake of functionality; programming principles require least authority for the sake of security. If we practice our principles, we could have both security and functionality. Treating security as a separate concern has not succeeded in bridging the gap between principle and practice, because it operates without knowledge of what constitutes least authority. Only when requests are made -- whether by humans acting through a user interface, or by one object invoking another -- can we determine how much authority is adequate. Without this knowledge, we must provide programs with enough authority to do anything they might be requested to do.
...
And what is the implementation language behind E, CaPerl, etc?
There's currently a version of E written in Java. CaPerl compiles down to Perl (which is of course interpreted by a program written in C).
is hiding C's vulnerabilities behind a "secure" language front-end really secure?
Yes.
Or is it just papering over a problem?
No. Think of buffer overflows again. Is the problem more prevalent in C or Perl (and remember perl is written in C). Are you arguing that Perl is the most secure language ever written and any attempts to improve on it are futile? Maybe I'm getting off track. I thought this discussion started with security vuneralibilities in Webmin? This is similiar to the attack senario for the Darpa Browser described here and here. Note that unlike Webmin, the attack are successfully thwarted.

In reply to Re^7: Attack on Perl -or- Perl needs better PR (again) by Anonymous Monk
in thread Attack on Perl or Perl's need better PR (again) by wazoox

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.