patchWeeChat - Patches: patch #5835, USER message privacy fix

 
 

patch #5835: USER message privacy fix

Submitter:  Alex Tarkovsky <atarkovsky>
Submitted:  Fri 30 Mar 2007 10:47:04 AM UTC
   
 
Category:  irc plugin Priority:  5 - Normal
Status:  Done Privacy:  Public
Assigned to:  flashcode Open/Closed:  Closed
IRC nick: 
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Fri 30 Mar 2007 10:47:04 AM UTC, original submission:  

This patch implements RFC 1459-compliant privacy measures for the client-to-server connection process.

WeeChat compromises user privacy by sending unnecessary identifying information to the server via the USER message upon connection. RFC 1459 specifies the parameters of the USER message as:

    <username> <hostname> <servername> <realname>

Regarding the hostname and servername parameters, the specification states: "Note that hostname and servername are normally ignored by the IRC server when the USER command comes from a directly connected client (for security reasons), but they are used in server to server communication."

Per the specification those two particular USER parameters when sent by the client aren't used by the server for anything. WeeChat creates a privacy problem however by sending the following values for them:

1. For hostname WeeChat sends the client machine's real hostname. To see how other *nix IRC clients handle this parameter I tested two popular ones, Irssi and X-Chat. Over identical privacy concerns, as of version 2.6.1 X-Chat stopped using the client machine's real hostname for the value of the hostname parameter, and instead it duplicates the value of the username parameter there. Irssi still uses the real hostname (but I'll be submitting a patch to them shortly).

2. For servername WeeChat sends the string "servername". Among the IRC clients tested, only WeeChat uses this particular value for servername, making it obvious to the server (or a packet sniffer) which IRC client the user is connecting with. Irssi and X-Chat both send the server's hostname (NB: not the client's hostname!) as the servername parameter.

RFC 2812 further supports the argument that the value of USER's hostname and servername parameters, when sent by a client, are non-vital. It updates the specification for the USER message parameters:

    <user> <mode> <unused> <realname>

Notice that the former servername parameter is now completely unused, and mode now takes the place of the hostname parameter: "The <mode> parameter should be a numeric, and can be used to automatically set user modes when registering with the server."

The attached patch doesn't attempt to implement the mode parameter (or any other RFC 2812 features). It simply addresses privacy concerns by using the following USER parameter values:

1. For hostname: The value of the username parameter is duplicated here (a la X-Chat)

2. For servername: The server's hostname (read from server->address)

Alex Tarkovsky <atarkovsky>

 

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Attached Files
file #12344:  weechat-0.2.4-login-add_servername-no_hostname.patch added by atarkovsky (1KiB - text/x-patch - weechat-0.2.4-login-add_servername-no_hostname.patch)

 

Depends on the following items: None found

Items that depend on this one: None found

 

Carbon-Copy List
  • -email is unavailable- added by flashcode (Updated the item)
  • -email is unavailable- added by atarkovsky (Submitted the item)
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    Follow 4 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2007-04-02 flashcode StatusNone Done
        Assigned toNone flashcode
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2007-03-30 atarkovsky Attached File- Added weechat-0.2.4-login-add_servername-no_hostname.patch, #12344

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