The SENDMAIL "Trap Door" THE WORM WAS ABLE TO BREAK IN THROUGH MAIL SERVERS BECAUSE OF FEATURES ADDED FOR DEBUGGING. IT CAN BE HANDY TO TEMPORARILY ADD INSTRUCTIONS TO A PROGRAM TO MAKE SURE IT IS WORKING. IN THE "COLOR MIXER" LAB, I HAD YOU ADD ASSIGNMENTS TO TEMPORARILY SET THE COLORS TO 200,0,200. TO DEBUG A MAIL SERVER, IT IS HANDY TO BE ABLE TO TELL THE SERVER TO EXECUTE COMMANDS (TO SEE IF MAIL WAS DELIVERED). SOME MAIL SERVERS CONTAINED SUCH DEBUGGING CODE IN THE DISTRIBUTED VERSION.

The Web: Technologies and Techniques Links to other course pages: CS 105 Home Page CS 105 Lecture Schedule CS 105 On-line Discussion Group: All discussions Discussion relating to this lecture topic Williams College Department of Computer Science

This page is part of a section of lecture slides related to " The Internet Worm " within the topic "Computer Security: A Case Study?". Other slides within this section and other sections of slides for the topic "Computer Security: A Case Study?" can be accessed using the links below. Paranoia Raising Some Sample Security Problems The Internet Worm The Internet Worm What was "The Worm"? Finding Machine Names How the Worm Broke in Password Guessing The SENDMAIL "Trap Door" The Finger Server Bug Computer Memory Organization Computer Memory and Program Variables Memory Overflow The Finger Bug It Couldn't Happen Again! Could it?