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1.306: Why do PIDs run non-sequentially?



The answer (I was there, consider me an authority ...) is that the
PIDs needed to be somewhat unpredictable.  This is because AIX was
originally designed with a number of C2 and B1 features, and one of those
is the notion of covert channel analysis.  Sequential PIDs are a covert
channel (assuming the system has one PID namespace ...) since the value
of the "next" PID is shared by all currently running processes.  So if I
want to sneak some of my classified data out to your co-operating
non-classified program, I can do it by carefully controlling the value
of the "next" PID.



Top Document: comp.unix.aix Frequently Asked Questions (Part 2 of 5)
Previous Document: 1.305: How much RAM (real memory) does my machine have?
Next Document: 1.400: How do I make an informative prompt in the shell?

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