[Python-ideas] Secure string disposal (maybe other inmutable seq types too?)

[Christian Heimes]

On 2018-06-23 21:55, Ezequiel Brizuela [aka EHB or qlixed] wrote:
> 
> 
> El sáb., 23 de jun. de 2018 10:58, Stephan Houben
> <stephanh42 at gmail.com
> <mailto:stephanh42 at gmail.com>> escribió:
> 
>     Would it not be much simpler and more secure to just disable core dumps?
> 
>     /etc/security/limits.conf on Linux.
> 
>     If the attacker can cause and read a core dump, the game seems over
>     anyway since sooner or later he will catch the core dump at a time
>     the string was not yet deleted.
> 
> 
> Thing is that this could be leaked in other ways, not just on a core.
> Additiinally there is the case when you need a core to debug the issue,
> you could be sharing sensitive info without knowing it.
> Also is not always an option disabling core generation.

If you have core dumps enabled, then memory wiping will not help against
accidental leakage of sensitive data.