Re: Security question: "Text file busy" overwriting executables but not shared libraries?

Alexander Viro
2001-10-03T07:07:48Z

On Tue, 2 Oct 2001, Rob Landley wrote:

> Anybody want to venture an opinion why overwriting executable files that are
> currently in use gives you a "text file busy" error, but overwriting shared
> libraries that are in use apparently works just fine (modulo a core dump if
> you aren't subtle about your run-time patching)?
>
> Permissions are still enforced, but it seems to me somebody who cracks root
> on a system could potentially modify the behavior of important system daemons
> without changing their process ID numbers.
>
> Did I miss something somewhere?

Somebody who cracks root can attach gdb to a daemon, modify the contents of
its text segment and detach. No need to change any files...