[Adium-devl] Out of process plugins (was: Distant objects)

[Graham Booker]

On May 4, 2007, at 8:17 AM, Joe Ranieri wrote:

>
> On May 4, 2007, at 09:07:52, Ofri Wolfus wrote:
>
>> So instead of sharing AIAdium, share a proxy to it, and before the
>> proxy will forward any messages to AIAdium, the other side must
>> authenticate with it using whatever mechanism we decide. In
>> practice, the other side sees a "locked" AIAdium that is "unlocked"
>> only once you authenticate with it. Attempts to message the proxy
>> before authenticating will just be denied and/or reported/logged to
>> the user. This way there's no need to bother the user with trusted
>> processes attempting to connect, and only untrusted attempts will
>> be reported.
>
> What's a good mechanism for authenticating (I'm not a security
> person...)?
>
> -- Joe Ranieri

Digitally sign the bundle's executable with a key held by the  
developer.  Store the signature in the bundle's plist or another file  
next to the executable, or something.  Have adium keep a list of  
acceptable keys.  When a connection is made, authentication can be  
made by checking the signature on the bundle.  If the bundle is not  
signed, or the signature fails, prompt the user.

A bit of trouble, but this method is secure.  Granted, one could  
change out the keys that their adium uses, but they can't do so on  
the copy of adium which we distribute.
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