full-disclosure - Re: All the md5 hashes in every single update message sent to this list

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Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 11:45:52 -0400
From: ben@...owel.com
To: "Zach C." <fxchip@...il.com>
Cc: "full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk" <full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk>
Subject: Re: All the md5 hashes in every single update
 message sent to this list

What is the advantage of having all the hashes posted to the list over
doing something like having a digitally signed text file next to the
update on their servers and occasionally publish the pubkey to the list? I
feel like that would provide the same level of confidence the package was
unaltered as just reading the hashes from the list.

> They do this so that people who are manually installing or updating
> software
> can also verify that the package they are installing is, in fact, the
> exact
> same one that the software packager released -- this reduces (but not
> eliminates) the chance that someone malicious may have been able to slip
> something into the update package unnoticed by the installer or the
> packager.
>
> On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 11:22 PM, B1towel <ben@...owel.com> wrote:
>
>> What is the purpose of all the patch notification emails that when a
>> security vulnerability is fixed the people who send out the notification
>> email include a 5 mile long list of md5 hashes for every single package
>> and
>> all dependancies for the package that was updated? I feel that
>> information
>> does not need to be in the notification that the latest version fixed a
>> security vulnerability, and to me it just gets in the way of reading the
>> occasionally useful content this list has to offer.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
>> Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html
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>>
>


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