Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]


Groups > comp.lang.python > #87137

Re: Question about importlib

References <mdgttm$pm0$1@ger.gmane.org>
Date 2015-03-08 18:42 +1100
Subject Re: Question about importlib
From Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com>
Newsgroups comp.lang.python
Message-ID <mailman.164.1425800529.21433.python-list@python.org> (permalink)

Show all headers | View raw


On Sun, Mar 8, 2015 at 6:30 PM, Frank Millman <frank@chagford.com> wrote:
> Actually, as I write this, I realise that there is a more important question
> that had not occurred to me before. Is this a potential security risk? My
> intention is that the caller would only call functions within my own
> modules, but this could be used to call any arbitrary function.

Here's an easy solution to both halves of your problem. It guarantees
that arbitrary functions can't be called (or at least, that functions
from arbitrary modules can't be called), and guarantees predictable
performance:

modules = {
    "some_module": some_module,
    "another_module": another_module,
}

module_name, func_name = func_name.rsplit('.', 1)
module = modules.get(module_name)
if module: getattr(module, func_name)(caller, xml_elem)
else: cope with invalid choice of module

You could programmatically populate the dictionary (eg from a list of
acceptable module names) either with importlib or by pulling them from
sys.modules. But whichever way you do it, you have an easy guarantee
that arbitrary modules won't be imported, guaranteeing both security
and performance in one stroke.

ChrisA

Back to comp.lang.python | Previous | Next | Find similar | Unroll thread


Thread

Re: Question about importlib Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2015-03-08 18:42 +1100

csiph-web