Re: Insecure WWW Access Authorization Protocol?

Sarr Blumson (sarr@citi.umich.edu)
Tue, 8 Mar 1994 23:33:36 --100


Tony Sanders says:
michael shiplett writes:
> "ts" == Tony Sanders <sanders@BSDI.COM> writes:
> The URL is as trustworth as the source of the URL--whether the
> source is in or out of band.
If you cannot trust the server reply to get the realm information from
then why do you think you can trust the URL? You have exactly the
same problems as when you started.

I think we're munging two different things here. Michael is willing to
trust whoever gave him the URL pointing to, for example,
citi.umich.edu, and believes that citi.umich.edu has what he wants.
What he wants the security mechanisms to do for him is guarantee that
the server he ends up talking to really _is_ citi.umich.edu, and not
some imposter who has attacked the intervening cable.

I believe this is important because Michael is thinking about using
forms to put confidential data into his server, so spoofing the server
is more than just a denial of service.

--------
Sarr Blumson sarr@citi.umich.edu
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