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To: Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net>
Cc: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Fast-Path documentation 
In-reply-to: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0303051339500.2224-100000@peter.localdomain> 
References: <Pine.LNX.4.44.0303051339500.2224-100000@peter.localdomain>
Comments: In-reply-to Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net>
	message dated "Wed, 05 Mar 2003 18:13:17 +0100"
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 18:19:27 -0500
Message-ID: <25947.1046992767@sss.pgh.pa.us>
From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
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Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> The libpq documentation contains this:
> """
> <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> provides a fast-path interface to
> send function calls to the backend.  This is a trapdoor into system
> internals and can be a potential security hole.  Most users will not need
> this feature.
> """
> Why and under what circumstances is this a security hole, and what is a
> user to do about it?

The security problem is that the frontend feeds raw internal-format data
to the backend.  While this is relatively harmless for datatypes with no
internal structure, it'd be pretty easy to crash the backend by feeding
in a misconstructed polygon, for example.  There was some discussion of
this in pgsql-interfaces awhile back, see
http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-interfaces/2003-01/msg00000.php

There are a bunch of other problems with the fast-path protocol; see
comments in src/backend/tcop/fastpath.c.  I consider redesigning it to
be one of the "must do" topics for the long-threatened protocol revision.

			regards, tom lane