"Timwi" timwi@gmx.net wrote in message news:ecl9gm$dij$1@sea.gmane.org...
Simetrical wrote:
On 8/24/06, Timwi timwi@gmx.net wrote:
I was trying to address the security issues that come from the user's ability to cause the server to perform any GET request to any server.
This is a problem why, provided the server is careful about what it does with the response?
It's not the response that's the problem, it's the GET request itself.
Suppose some stupid web programmer programmed a forum where you can delete posts with a GET request. If you can fire GET requests to any server from Wikimedia's servers, then the forum's servers will only log Wikimedia's IPs, and the mass-deletion forum vandal is now untraceable.
I'm sure there are even more significant cases that I haven't thought of.
Timwi
It would not be hard to include appropriate trace information in the headers (referrer & useragent), which will show up in the remote website's logs. For example, IP/username of the uploader, link back to the resulting image page, etc.
We could even set the referrer URL to a non-editable page giving full details about the specific request, with further links that explain the feature and how it works, give details about how to report abuse/copyright infringement, etc.
- Mark Clements (HappyDog)