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Re: Null

#71

Post by masklinn »

tobyhinloopen wrote: post #55
masklinn wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Every now and then a dev will make a branch with "BranchPrefix/" and the OS X machines all start having issues since OS X's file hierarchy isn't case sensitive. (We've also had issues w/ two files, same name different case. git supports it, but OS X can't cope.) FWIW macOS is perfectly fine with it. The FS (both HFS+ and APFS) can be configured to work in CI or CS modes. The default is CI. Since git uses the FS for…

A lot of software actually breaks running macOS in case sensitive mode, incl Adobe stuff

True, I was going to put a note on that but apparently forgot or removed it while editing: some software, mainly cross-platform from windows (which is CI) will break in CS file systems, while Unix software is more likely to break on CI.

Re: Null

#72

Post by CodesInChaos »

zinekeller wrote: post #22
deathanatos wrote: post #10

I worked on an API that regularly got requests from the mobile app for GET /users/(null). I think that's Swift, or Obj-C's way of to-string'ing a null? I have a generational suffix on my name. I often include it, and quite often as the proper Unicode character, e.g., "Ⅲ". (Assuming HN displays it after I post this, try to select it; that's one character.) That wreaks a fair bit of havoc. When I was in high-school, I…

> Just today, Azure's support system can't handle (among many things) the outlandish characters of " ". Which is great fun, since it's not like anyone would file a highly-technical support request with Azure… right? Someone in Azure is definitely using the Windows reserved characters for filenames.

I think misguided XSS protection is the most likely culprit here.

Re: Null

#73

Post by dgellow »

jannes wrote: post #58
jsrcout wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my professors back in college loved to do that. "Shockingly effective" is exactly the right term. Learned a lot from that little exercise.

This makes me wonder if there's a tool that can auto-generate random inputs and send them to the application. (maybe excluding Alt-Tab to avoid switching away from the application) Fuzzing is a pretty popular testing technique for libraries, but GUI software has not seen the same attention.

GUI fuzzing is a thing, yes. I've seen it mostly on mobile apps but I'm sure you have it for other type of GUIs.

Example of tools: https://www.fuzzingbook.org/html/GUIFuzzer.html

Re: Null

#74

Post by raziel2p »

jack_riminton wrote: post #64

I know finding bugs is undeniably a good thing but I can't help but feel someone as obviously bright as this should be making more things It's like the people who spent a lot of their time finding ever more pedantic inaccuracies and continuity errors in films. The mute LED on your thinkpad sometimes goes out of sync? fascinating

What gives you the impression the author doesn't also make things?

Re: Null

#75

Post by TobTobXX »

climb_stealth wrote: post #26
deathanatos wrote: post #10

I worked on an API that regularly got requests from the mobile app for GET /users/(null). I think that's Swift, or Obj-C's way of to-string'ing a null? I have a generational suffix on my name. I often include it, and quite often as the proper Unicode character, e.g., "Ⅲ". (Assuming HN displays it after I post this, try to select it; that's one character.) That wreaks a fair bit of havoc. When I was in high-school, I…

Just as an aside, you can reformat the file system to be case-sensitive on MacOS. I think at $dayjob it's more or less policy to do so. The only downside I have seen so far is that some software only runs on case-insensitive file systems. For example Photoshop did this last I checked.

Neither does the Steam application (on macOS, not on Linux AFAIK). Thanks to that I could start to live without it. ^^

Re: Null

#76

Post by taneq »

msh wrote: post #28
pixl97 wrote: post #7

>While I’m not a QA or security professional, I have developed a knack for doing “stupid” things with software which causes it to malfunction. A person after my own heart. I've had many a dev go "why would you do that" In which I answer "it doesn't matter, but if you accept my input it's your job to ensure the app doesn't crash"

Why do you require software to be more resilient than other things? If I pour water in the gastank of my car, it will also fail to drive. Or gas in the sprinkler tank. So the car should somehow prevent the enduser putting the wrong thing in the tank?

Because software has hundreds or thousands of tanks, compartments, cogs, levers, buttons and switches. And if it's not designed robustly, using any one of those things slightly wrong (or even right, but there's a bug in the software) can make the entire thing disappear in a cloud of smoke, taking your groceries with it.

Re: Null

#77

Post by scoutt »

xyst wrote: post #11

People like that is the reason why this list was created https://github.com/minimaxir/big-list-of-naughty-strings/blo... My personal favorite is this one though "If you're reading this, you've been in a coma for almost 20 years now. We're trying a new technique. We don't know where this message will end up in your dream, but we hope it works. Please wake up, we miss you.",

I can get why testing for "Jimmy Clitheroe" and "Horniman Museum", but can't make a reason for "Linda Callahan".

Re: Null

#78

Post by monsieurbanana »

m463 wrote: post #57
xyst wrote: post #11

People like that is the reason why this list was created https://github.com/minimaxir/big-list-of-naughty-strings/blo... My personal favorite is this one though "If you're reading this, you've been in a coma for almost 20 years now. We're trying a new technique. We don't know where this message will end up in your dream, but we hope it works. Please wake up, we miss you.",

what a great github repo. I enjoyed: # Strings that may occur on IRC clients that make security products freak out DCC SEND STARTKEYLOGGER 0 0 0 and everything under: # Innocuous strings which may be blocked by profanity filters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem)

I'm surprised about Scunthorpe, if any name with a profanity substring would trigger the filter I'd have thought this issue would be more common than Scunthorpe.

Re: Null

#79

Post by taneq »

jannes wrote: post #58
jsrcout wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my professors back in college loved to do that. "Shockingly effective" is exactly the right term. Learned a lot from that little exercise.

This makes me wonder if there's a tool that can auto-generate random inputs and send them to the application. (maybe excluding Alt-Tab to avoid switching away from the application) Fuzzing is a pretty popular testing technique for libraries, but GUI software has not seen the same attention.

GUI fuzzing was a thing way back on the original Macintosh: https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&stor...

Something similar should be reasonably easy to build these days using AutoHotKey or the like. I bet it's been done.

Re: Null

#80

Post by yitchelle »

taneq wrote: post #76
msh wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you require software to be more resilient than other things? If I pour water in the gastank of my car, it will also fail to drive. Or gas in the sprinkler tank. So the car should somehow prevent the enduser putting the wrong thing in the tank?

Because software has hundreds or thousands of tanks, compartments, cogs, levers, buttons and switches. And if it's not designed robustly, using any one of those things slightly wrong (or even right, but there's a bug in the software) can make the entire thing disappear in a cloud of smoke, taking your groceries with it.

The funny thing about this comment is that it is also applicable to the software in the car. The amount of software in today's car is mind boggling, and it grow exponentially as more and more features make it to the public roads.
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