[JW Lua] New security features in upcoming RGP 0.67

[Aaron Sherber]

My $0.02:

Excluding ExecuteAtStartup scripts from auto folders is a good idea.

I like the "Allow at Startup" config option -- but then is ExecuteAtStartup
really needed in the script?

For hash tracking of startup scripts and the config file, I'd like to avoid
anything that requires me to restart Finale after confirming -- it's just a
(minor) hassle. Could there be at startup a dialog that says (in friendlier
language) "Changes detected in xxx....proceed?" Clicking Yes would confirm
the new hash and then allow things to be loaded right away.

As a side note, avoiding Finale restarts is one reason that I sometimes
edit the config file directly before starting Finale, instead of starting,
making changes in RGP Lua, and restarting. If Finale is now going to notice
the changed config file and make me restart anyway, then I lose that
shortcut.

I am opposed to hash tracking of all script files, unless it's a
user-configurable option. I have the Lua-Scripts repo dist folder set as an
auto folder, and periodically I pull the latest. It would be a hassle to
have to reconfirm any changed files.

Thanks,
Aaron.



On Tue, Apr 11, 2023 at 10:09 AM Robert Patterson <
robert at robertgpatterson.com> wrote:

> This is to give this list a heads up on new security features coming in
> 0.67. It will particularly affect people who distribute their plugins with
> a custom configuration file. (Jan Angermüller and Jacob Winkler, I'm
> thinking of you guys.)
>
> I started thinking about vulnerabilities and realized that the biggest one
> is the new ExecuteAtStartup scripts. They could be installed and run
> without the user ever knowing. In fact that is happening now with the menu
> organizer script. Anyone who has an Auto Folder set up on the Lua-Scripts
> repo is running that script, whether they know it or not. It's just not
> doing anything if no menu config file is present.
>
> 0.67 will address this as follows:
>
>    1. ExecuteAtStartup scripts will be excluded from Auto Folders. You
>    will have to explicitly configure them.
>    2. When you configure an ExecuteAtStartup script you will have to
>    explicitly permit it to load at startup with a new "Allow at Startup"
>    option. Otherwise, even if it has requested ExecuteAtStartup it will not do
>    so. (A script will need both to have requested it and for the user to have
>    permitted it before it runs at startup.)
>    3. A hash will be calculated and stored for ExecuteAtStartup scripts
>    and RGP Lua will refuse to load them if the hash changes. (The user will
>    have to reconfigure it by going into the edit dialog and hitting OK before
>    it will load again.)
>    4. The RGP Lua configuration file will also be hashed, and the user
>    will be forced to reconfirm the configuration if the config file is
>    modified externally to the RGP Lua plugin itself.
>    5. Indeed, I am migrating towards hash tracking of all script files,
>    but for 0.67 only the hashes for ExecuteAtStartup scripts will be tracked.
>    6. If a user enables debugging on an ExecuteAtStartup script file, it
>    disables the hash checking. (That will be the plan even if all scripts
>    start being hash checked.) So enabling debug is going to be more than ever
>    something that should only be done when actual debugging is taking place.
>
> My question for anyone who is using custom configs is, do you want RGP Lua
> to hash-track them as well? My main reason for hash-tracking the primary
> config file is that it is at a published location. Hash tracking
> custom-config files would create challenges for installation. I'm leaning
> towards not tracking them, at least in the initial version of
> hash-tracking. If you feel strongly one way or the other, let me know. If
> we are going to hash track them, you have to have a way to install a new
> config file without forcing the user to agree to something they don't know
> anything about.
>
>
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>
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