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Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2004 21:52:48 +0800
To: Derrell.Lipman@UnwiredUniverse.com
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] SQLite security
From: aqsalter@westnet.com.au (Adam Q)


On 23/08/2004, at 9:22 PM, Derrell.Lipman@UnwiredUniverse.com wrote:

> Adam Q <aqsalter@westnet.com.au> writes:
>
>> I think encryption for SQLite is essential for PHP. Without it, it 
>> makes it
>> almost useless in a webscripting language.  Suppose you wanted to 
>> create an
>> open source, easily portable, file based guestbook in PHP. I would 
>> never use
>> SQLLite under the current circumstances... Although I would love to. 
>> It
>> seems like the perfect solution.
>>
>> The database needs a password.... otherwise it is just too much of a
>> security risk.
>
> Others have commented on where the database should (or shouldn't) be 
> located
> to avoid these problems.  If the server environment is so inadequately
> maintained as to put database files in locations where they might be
> downloaded, then I would contend that it would not be a difficult job 
> to
> manage to download the PHP or other data file which contains the 
> username
>

I can see I've touched a nerve here.
Has nobody d/l PHPNuke, PostNuke, phpMyAdmin, Mambo... On and on the 
list goes on?
They all put their DB access data in a file called "config.inc.php" (or 
something like that). (ie database passwords and general config data)
But they protect it by including something along these lines:

<?
//config.inc.php
if (defined("correct_entry_point")) {
my_pref[1] = "lots of good stuff";
}
?>

so even if you know where this file is in your web tree e.g.
http://www.example.com/db_admin/config.inc.php
all you get when you put it into a web broswer is a blank page.

Is this insecure? Please don't give me a flat yes.
The answer lies behind a thousand veils of shade.
phpMyAdmin consistently is in the top 10 projects on sourceforge. Is 
this method insecure? (yes, they drone) Then why do the phpMyAdmin 
developers go ahead with it? Because it works. Simple.
PHPNuke has a community in the hundreds of thousands. Is this method 
insecure? (yes, yes, yes)
PostNuke ditto? (yes, yes, yes)
Mambo too? (yes, yes, yes)
I've forgotten because there are so many out there on hotscripts.com? 
(yes, yes, yes)

And finally, imagine if I used an SQLite DB to store this data... But 
we've been there before.

Thank you for the information regarding the encryption. I don't have 
the knowledge or skills to include this into PHP 5, but I appreciate 
the information - for one thing it means I'm not going crazy, other 
people have had the same idea.

Adam