diff options
author | Gregory P. Smith <greg@krypto.org> | 2014-05-11 20:26:21 (GMT) |
---|---|---|
committer | Gregory P. Smith <greg@krypto.org> | 2014-05-11 20:26:21 (GMT) |
commit | 6436cba9db1fa6557531fb35bba902c83387445b (patch) | |
tree | 9368406d15d25c010ce3fb6d2ce937671f670534 /Doc/library/subprocess.rst | |
parent | 5c8ce188ee439a101d7a48e5a10bb98a2bd121ab (diff) | |
download | cpython-6436cba9db1fa6557531fb35bba902c83387445b.zip cpython-6436cba9db1fa6557531fb35bba902c83387445b.tar.gz cpython-6436cba9db1fa6557531fb35bba902c83387445b.tar.bz2 |
Remove the warning-soup from the subprocess documentation by adding
a Security Considerations section as preferred by both the devguide
and documentation users who do not wish to go insane.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/library/subprocess.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Doc/library/subprocess.rst | 127 |
1 files changed, 48 insertions, 79 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/library/subprocess.rst b/Doc/library/subprocess.rst index 4b18396..2ae04d5 100644 --- a/Doc/library/subprocess.rst +++ b/Doc/library/subprocess.rst @@ -54,18 +54,12 @@ use cases, the underlying :class:`Popen` interface can be used directly. >>> subprocess.call("exit 1", shell=True) 1 - .. warning:: - - Invoking the system shell with ``shell=True`` can be a security hazard - if combined with untrusted input. See the warning under - :ref:`frequently-used-arguments` for details. - .. note:: - Do not use ``stdout=PIPE`` or ``stderr=PIPE`` with this function. As - the pipes are not being read in the current process, the child - process may block if it generates enough output to a pipe to fill up - the OS pipe buffer. + Do not use ``stdout=PIPE`` or ``stderr=PIPE`` with this + function. The child process will block if it generates enough + output to a pipe to fill up the OS pipe buffer as the pipes are + not being read from. .. versionchanged:: 3.3 *timeout* was added. @@ -99,18 +93,12 @@ use cases, the underlying :class:`Popen` interface can be used directly. ... subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command 'exit 1' returned non-zero exit status 1 - .. warning:: - - Invoking the system shell with ``shell=True`` can be a security hazard - if combined with untrusted input. See the warning under - :ref:`frequently-used-arguments` for details. - .. note:: - Do not use ``stdout=PIPE`` or ``stderr=PIPE`` with this function. As - the pipes are not being read in the current process, the child - process may block if it generates enough output to a pipe to fill up - the OS pipe buffer. + Do not use ``stdout=PIPE`` or ``stderr=PIPE`` with this + function. The child process will block if it generates enough + output to a pipe to fill up the OS pipe buffer as the pipes are + not being read from. .. versionchanged:: 3.3 *timeout* was added. @@ -177,17 +165,12 @@ use cases, the underlying :class:`Popen` interface can be used directly. ... shell=True) 'ls: non_existent_file: No such file or directory\n' - .. warning:: - - Invoking the system shell with ``shell=True`` can be a security hazard - if combined with untrusted input. See the warning under - :ref:`frequently-used-arguments` for details. - .. note:: - Do not use ``stderr=PIPE`` with this function. As the pipe is not being - read in the current process, the child process may block if it - generates enough output to the pipe to fill up the OS pipe buffer. + Do not use ``stdout=PIPE`` or ``stderr=PIPE`` with this + function. The child process will block if it generates enough + output to a pipe to fill up the OS pipe buffer as the pipes are + not being read from. .. versionadded:: 3.1 @@ -210,7 +193,7 @@ use cases, the underlying :class:`Popen` interface can be used directly. Special value that can be used as the *stdin*, *stdout* or *stderr* argument to :class:`Popen` and indicates that a pipe to the standard stream should be - opened. + opened. Most useful with :meth:`Popen.communicate`. .. data:: STDOUT @@ -336,28 +319,9 @@ default values. The arguments that are most commonly needed are: instead of ``locale.getpreferredencoding()``. See the :class:`io.TextIOWrapper` class for more information on this change. - .. warning:: - - Executing shell commands that incorporate unsanitized input from an - untrusted source makes a program vulnerable to `shell injection - <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_injection#Shell_injection>`_, - a serious security flaw which can result in arbitrary command execution. - For this reason, the use of ``shell=True`` is **strongly discouraged** - in cases where the command string is constructed from external input:: - - >>> from subprocess import call - >>> filename = input("What file would you like to display?\n") - What file would you like to display? - non_existent; rm -rf / # - >>> call("cat " + filename, shell=True) # Uh-oh. This will end badly... - - ``shell=False`` disables all shell based features, but does not suffer - from this vulnerability; see the Note in the :class:`Popen` constructor - documentation for helpful hints in getting ``shell=False`` to work. + .. note:: - When using ``shell=True``, :func:`shlex.quote` can be used to properly - escape whitespace and shell metacharacters in strings that are going to - be used to construct shell commands. + Read the `Security Considerations`_ section before using ``shell=True``. These options, along with all of the other options, are described in more detail in the :class:`Popen` constructor documentation. @@ -438,11 +402,9 @@ functions. into the shell (e.g. :command:`dir` or :command:`copy`). You do not need ``shell=True`` to run a batch file or console-based executable. - .. warning:: + .. note:: - Passing ``shell=True`` can be a security hazard if combined with - untrusted input. See the warning under :ref:`frequently-used-arguments` - for details. + Read the `Security Considerations`_ section before using ``shell=True``. *bufsize* will be supplied as the corresponding argument to the :func:`open` function when creating the stdin/stdout/stderr pipe file objects: :const:`0` @@ -598,14 +560,21 @@ Exceptions defined in this module all inherit from :exc:`SubprocessError`. The :exc:`SubprocessError` base class was added. -Security -^^^^^^^^ +Security Considerations +----------------------- + +Unlike some other popen functions, this implementation will never +implicitly call a system shell. This means that all characters, +including shell metacharacters, can safely be passed to child processes. +If the shell is invoked explicitly, via ``shell=True``, it is the application's +responsibility to ensure that all whitespace and metacharacters are +quoted appropriately to avoid +`shell injection <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_injection#Shell_injection>`_ +vulnerabilities. -Unlike some other popen functions, this implementation will never call a -system shell implicitly. This means that all characters, including shell -metacharacters, can safely be passed to child processes. Obviously, if the -shell is invoked explicitly, then it is the application's responsibility to -ensure that all whitespace and metacharacters are quoted appropriately. +When using ``shell=True``, the :func:`shlex.quote` function can be +used to properly escape whitespace and shell metacharacters in strings +that are going to be used to construct shell commands. Popen Objects @@ -631,25 +600,25 @@ Instances of the :class:`Popen` class have the following methods: .. note:: + This will deadlock when using ``stdout=PIPE`` or ``stderr=PIPE`` + and the child process generates enough output to a pipe such that + it blocks waiting for the OS pipe buffer to accept more data. + Use :meth:`Popen.communicate` when using pipes to avoid that. + + .. note:: + The function is implemented using a busy loop (non-blocking call and short sleeps). Use the :mod:`asyncio` module for an asynchronous wait: see :class:`asyncio.create_subprocess_exec`. - .. warning:: - - This will deadlock when using ``stdout=PIPE`` and/or - ``stderr=PIPE`` and the child process generates enough output to - a pipe such that it blocks waiting for the OS pipe buffer to - accept more data. Use :meth:`communicate` to avoid that. - .. versionchanged:: 3.3 *timeout* was added. .. deprecated:: 3.4 - Do not use the undocumented *endtime* parameter. It is was - unintentionally exposed in 3.3 but was intended to be private - for internal use. Use *timeout* instead. + Do not use the *endtime* parameter. It is was unintentionally + exposed in 3.3 but was left undocumented as it was intended to be + private for internal use. Use *timeout* instead. .. method:: Popen.communicate(input=None, timeout=None) @@ -716,13 +685,6 @@ Instances of the :class:`Popen` class have the following methods: The following attributes are also available: -.. warning:: - - Use :meth:`~Popen.communicate` rather than :attr:`.stdin.write <Popen.stdin>`, - :attr:`.stdout.read <Popen.stdout>` or :attr:`.stderr.read <Popen.stderr>` to avoid - deadlocks due to any of the other OS pipe buffers filling up and blocking the - child process. - .. attribute:: Popen.args The *args* argument as it was passed to :class:`Popen` -- a @@ -756,6 +718,13 @@ The following attributes are also available: ``True``, the stream is a text stream, otherwise it is a byte stream. If the *stderr* argument was not :data:`PIPE`, this attribute is ``None``. +.. warning:: + + Use :meth:`~Popen.communicate` rather than :attr:`.stdin.write <Popen.stdin>`, + :attr:`.stdout.read <Popen.stdout>` or :attr:`.stderr.read <Popen.stderr>` to avoid + deadlocks due to any of the other OS pipe buffers filling up and blocking the + child process. + .. attribute:: Popen.pid |