Another scripting language implemented into Python itself?

[Jeff Shannon]

Grant Edwards wrote:

> On 2005-01-25, Rocco Moretti <roccomoretti at hotpop.com> wrote:
>
>>Bottom line: Don't exec or eval untrusted code. Don't import untrusted 
>>modules.
> 
> I still don't see how that's any different for Python than for
> any other language.

Yep, and one should be careful about executing untrusted C code, too. 
  If you're running a webserver, do you let random users upload 
executables and then run them?  Probably not.

The key point here, what I was attempting to say in my earlier post, 
is that while Python can be useful as an internal scripting language 
inside of an application, it gives users of that application the same 
power over your system as any arbitrary C code.  That's fine if it's 
an internal application, or the application can be run with 
(enforceable) restricted permissions, but it's still risky.  How many 
security alerts has Microsoft issued because of some bug that allowed 
the execution of arbitrary code?  Well, having Python scripting access 
is essentially the same thing.  At best, you can use the external 
environment to limit the process running Python to its own sandbox 
(e.g. running as a limited-permission user in a chroot jail), but you 
still can't prevent one user of that application from screwing with 
other users of the application, or the application's own internal data.

In other words, the only difference is that Python makes it much more 
tempting to hand over the keys to your server.

I confess that I jumped to the (apparently unsupported) conclusion 
that this was some sort of server-based, internet/shared application. 
  If that's not the case, then concerns about security are not so 
significant.  If the users are running this application on their own 
machines, then letting them script it in Python is a perfectly valid 
(and probably quite desirable) approach.

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International