

Windows Symbolic Link Mitigations - 2510c39011c5
http://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2015/08/windows-10hh-symbolic-link-mitigations.html

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UnoriginalGuy
Backwards compatibility is such a headache.

Got to give it to Microsoft for their dedication to never breaking old code. I
cannot imagine several of these scenarios happening more than in one or two
programs given how niche they are.

On modern UNIX (Linux, BSD, et al) when you create a symlink do you need write
access into the target directory, or do they suffer from this same sandbox
escape?

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dr_zoidberg
Sometimes I get the feeling that, although good in theory, that dedication to
keeping alive old code is also a big source of cruft and bugs in Windows. They
didn't drop 16 bit support until Windows Vista! I mean, was there aby big
chance of a 286 running Windows XP?

I know, old (DOS-era) systems were being run inside WinXP, but having DOSbox
take care of that was a way better solution -- which is what happened with
those systems once they lost support from the OS.

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TazeTSchnitzel
> They didn't drop 16 bit support until Windows Vista! I mean, was there aby
> big chance of a 286 running Windows XP?

XP didn't run on 16-bit, it just allowed running 16-bit apps. Why? Well, loads
of applications still used 16-bit installers, for instance. If it ain't
broken, don't fix it, etc.

Also, Microsoft didn't drop 16-bit support deliberately. The Virtual 8086 mode
(a CPU feature) doesn't work on x86-64.

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serge2k
> If it ain't broken, don't fix it, etc

which leads to MS being unwilling to break things and idiots being unwilling
to update them because "it ain't broken"

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NickHaflinger
"There are three types of symbolic links .. Object Manager Symbolic Links,
Registry Key Symbolic Links and NTFS Mount Points .. a fourth type, NTFS
Symbolic Links"

How did Unix ever manage with only the one type of symbolic link

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ygra
Because Unix uses _the_ file system for everything Windows uses the object
manager. Windows maps parts of the object manager to pre-existing concepts,
like drive letters, for backwards compatibility. And, well, Windows has a
registry, for better or for worse.

