security, cvs, was Re: interface bindings of x-server

[Keith Whitwell <keith@tungstengraphics.com>]

Keith Packard wrote:
> Around 2 o'clock on Nov 19, "roland@webde" wrote:
> 
> 
>>Keith, could you put this (being able to specify the interface bindings of
>>the xserver on the commandline) as a feature request on http://
>>www.freedesktop.org/Software/XserverWishlist if you find this feature
>>request useful ? i registerd a wiki account, but logging in doesn`t seem to
>>work for me.
> 
> 
> I'd like to switch the server so that -nolisten tcp is the default; I 
> don't see much sense in having it listen to even 127.0.0.1.  But, if you 
> wanted to make the list of IP addresses that the server bound to 
> configurable, that seems like a good idea.

Yep - network transparency is all well & good, but do you really want 
something as complex as the X server sitting there with an open port to the world?

On a related issue, does anyone understand what the actual flaw in pserver CVS 
is that allowed the linux backdoor attempt?  There's been a lot of talk about 
the implications of the attempt, but I haven't heard anyone come out and say 
"This is the fault in CVS, here's a patch, everything's ok now".

Is it foolhardy to continue running anoncvs, especially without the checks & 
balances which caught the backdoor attempt in linux?

Keith