RE: dynamic context transitions

Karl MacMillan wrote:
>
> I think there are very important differences between the dynamic
> transitions and the exec model and I read part of your message above as
> arguing they are basically equivalent. Correct me if I am wrong.

I would agree these models are not same.

Privilege bracketing can be used for two distinct purposes.

        The first purpose is to always run with the mininum amount of permission to complete an operation. This model has no gain in security assurance than program always running with all of the permissions. It can only help audit the internal functionality of the program.

        The second purpose can permanently remove permissions from a process. This provides a mechanism this is more strict than the previous domain, and cannot revert back to the old domain. This is similiar to the exec model without the environment cleansing and controlled interfaces. I believe it could help strengthen the exec model, by disallowing usage of helpers which are no longer needed inside an application.

The exec model also leads itself to easier analysis as a source audit is not needed to help determine the abilities of an application.

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