Kent M Pitman <pitman@world.std.com> wrote:
+---------------
| David Bakhash <cadet@alum.mit.edu> writes:
| > you set up an SSL socket server which, for each request, immediatly
| > opens another TCP/IP connection to the Lisp server on localhost.
|
| Is it, in general, guaranteed across all modern operating systems that
| socket to socket localhost does a loopback that isn't sniffable by external
| network hardware?
+---------------
For most values of "modern operating system", yes. In BSD-derived stacks,
"localhost" is a purely software construct. The packets never touch the
hardware (other than memory & CPU, that is).
However... It's possible that a rogue program [virus, Trojan, whatever]
*on* the SSL server could connect via localhost to the Lisp server
and spoof the SSL server, causing the Lisp server to respond to a
request that didn't come through the SSL server. [Of course, if an
attacker can get a virus or Trojan onto the SSL server host, you're
already in serious trouble...]
-Rob
-----
Rob Warnock, 31-2-510 <rpw3@sgi.com>
SGI Network Engineering <http://reality.sgi.com/rpw3/> [until 8/15]
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Mountain View, CA 94043 PP-ASEL-IA
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