.desktop files, serious security hole, virus-friendliness

[Scott James Remnant]

On Tue, 2006-04-04 at 20:03 +0100, Mark Seaborn wrote:

> One problem with using the executable bit on .desktop files is that
> the executable bit could become set without any special action by the
> user.
> 
In particular, if saved to a FAT partition (USB drive) or similar.

A different approach would be a standard for saving of attachments and
files downloaded from the Internet.  E-mail clients, Web browsers, etc.
would honour this standard, and declare their support for it as a
feature.

The standard would simply forbid such clients from saving a file which
could be interpreted as a desktop file, or executable, without the
user's express consent.

Scott
-- 
Have you ever, ever felt like this?
Had strange things happen?  Are you going round the twist?
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