[OpenAFS-devel] [LKML] Re: In-kernel Authentication Tokens (PAGs)

[Jeffrey Hutzelman]

On Thursday, July 15, 2004 13:37:21 +0100 David Howells 
<dhowells@redhat.com> wrote:

> Yes. The problem is how do you distinguish between a SUID binary that
> needs your keys, and one that shouldn't be given them?

You don't.  If you don't trust a program to do things as you, don't run it. 
SUID executables are a way of giving a program _elevated_ privilege, not 
reducing its privileges below those held by the user.

The is analoguous to the way local filesystem credentials are handled.  If 
you run a SUID program, it can switch to your UID and do anything as you.