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                                APACHE WEEK

The essential weekly guide for users of the world's most popular Web server.
                        Issue 341: 23rd January 2004

                                 In this issue

     * Under development
     * Security Reports
     * In the news
     * Featured articles

                               Under development

     A  change was proposed recently to allow the ServerTokens directive
     to  change  the  product  name  returned  in the Server header, for
     example  using ServerTokens Set IIS/5.0. Some server administrators
     request such a feature in the belief that it will improve security,
     under the assumption that attackers will not try Apache exploits if
     the  server  is running IIS. In reality, a determined attacker will
     easily  be  able  to  determine what software the server is running
     without  relying  on the Server header, so this feature has no real
     security  benefit.  As  usual,  there  was strong opposition to the
     change:  determined  server  administrators  can  still  change the
     Server  string  at  compile-time  without  needing  a configuration
     option.

                               Security Reports

     In  the  last  month,  two  reports  have  been sent to the bugtraq
     mailing  list by Steve Grubb concerning methods of hijacking Apache
     servers  using  PHP  or  mod_perl.  The  reports are made under the
     assumption  that  these  two  modules can be safely used to execute
     scripts  written  by untrusted authors, and include examples of how
     such  scripts  can take over the processing of incoming HTTP or SSL
     requests.

     PHP  (when  used  as  an Apache module) and mod_perl are similar in
     that  they both process, interpret, and execute scripts from within
     an  Apache  httpd  child  process.  This  means that the privileges
     available  to  an  httpd  child  process  are also available to the
     script  interpreters:  this  includes,  naturally,  the  ability to
     accept  new  requests  from  clients. Since all child processes run
     with  the  same  user  ID,  it  is  also possible to use signals to
     terminate or stop one child process from within another.

     Unlike  languages like Java, the interpreters for languages such as
     PHP  and  Perl  were not designed to provide a carefully restricted
     "sandbox"  in  which  code  is  executed.  Perl code is essentially
     unlimited  in the facilities available, as most C library functions
     and  resources  are readily usable. PHP code is somewhat restricted
     in  capability,  although  issues  in  the  interpreter  and myriad
     extension  modules  have  been repeatedly shown to allow scripts to
     escape the "sandbox" in recent times.

     The conclusion is that the scripts used with any current in-process
     scripting  modules  with Apache must be trusted with the privileges
     of  the httpd child process in which they execute. For execution of
     less-trusted  scripts, different solutions must be used such as CGI
     under suexec - sacrificing performance for security.

                                  In the news

Who patches Open Source?

     James  Maguire  asks  [1]"Who  patches  Open  Source?". With closed
     source  vendors  it's  easy  to  know  who to turn to if you have a
     problem  with  the software you have purchased, but in turn you are
     also  locked  into  getting  your fixes from that same vendor. This
     article  takes  a  look at the difference with Open Source software
     and in particular the Apache web server which is shipped by a large
     number  of vendors. Due to the transparency of open source, a Linux
     user  can  turn to their distribution vendor to fix an issue, or to
     the  Apache  Software  Foundation,  or  to one of a number of third
     parties that provide paid-for support.

Apache and his dog

     If  you've  ever wondered which Apache developer took his dog for a
     walk  last  night, or quite where in the world it is snowing today,
     then  you'll  be  riveted  to the brand new Apache blog aggregator,
     [2]Planet  Apache.  Joking  aside, the site aims to give an insight
     into  the  lives  of the Apache members, and more importantly gives
     Apache  developers  the  chance  to  learn  about their peers. With
     hundreds  of  Apache committers, many who have never met, this site
     will  play  an  important  part  in  helping  to  build  the Apache
     community.

Internet Generation Companies

     Emiliano  Abramzon  and  colleagues look to see if Apache is a good
     example  of an Internet Generation Company in their academic paper:
     [3]"  Apache.org:  The  Ultimate  Internet Generation Organization"
     (PDF, 1Mb). They conclude that Apache has a significant competitive
     advantage  to  software  competition  from  the entire openness and
     transparency.

                               Featured articles

     In  this  section we highlight some of the articles on the web that
     are of interest to Apache users.

     Nick  Kew  takes  Apache  Week readers through an extensive look at
     reverse  proxying  in  his article [4]"Running a Reverse Proxy with
     Apache". He includes details of his mod_proxy_html module which can
     solve  the  common problems associated with running reverse proxies
     by methods such as rewriting links.

     Apache   essentials   are   covered   in   [5]"Apache   Basics"  at
     unixreview.com.
       ______________________________________________________________

     This issue brought to you by: Mark J Cox, Joe Orton
     Comments or criticisms? Please email us at
     [6]editors@apacheweek.com.

     [7]Apache Week is Copyright 2004 [8]Red Hat, Inc.

References

   1. http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id"959
   2. http://www.planetapache.org/
   3. http://www.unc.edu/~mohrmana/apache.pdf
   4. http://www.apacheweek.com/features/reverseproxies
   5. http://www.unixreview.com/documents/s‰89/ur0401g/
   6. mailto:editors@apacheweek.com
   7. http://www.apacheweek.com/
   8. http://www.redhat.com/

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