The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 2424
Logged by: imacat
Email address: imacat (AT) mail (DOT) imacat.idv.tw
PostgreSQL version: 8.1.3
Operating system: Linux
Description: initdb Did Not Escape the Password
Details:

The initdb seems did not escape (PQescapeString) the password. The
following is my test result, with password: ab'ds)24

imacat@atlas ~ % initdb -D /tmp/postgres -E utf8 --locale=en_US.utf8 -U
postgres -W
The files belonging to this database system will be owned by user
"postgres".
This user must also own the server process.

The database cluster will be initialized with locale en_US.utf8.

fixing permissions on existing directory /tmp/postgres ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/global ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_xlog ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_xlog/archive_status ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_clog ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_subtrans ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_twophase ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_multixact/members ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_multixact/offsets ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/base ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/base/1 ... ok
creating directory /tmp/postgres/pg_tblspc ... ok
selecting default max_connections ... 100
selecting default shared_buffers ... 1000
creating configuration files ... ok
creating template1 database in /tmp/postgres/base/1 ... ok
initializing pg_authid ... ok
Enter new superuser password:
Enter it again:
setting password ... FATAL: syntax error at or near "ds" at character 41
child process exited with exit code 1
initdb: removing contents of data directory "/tmp/postgres"
imacat@atlas ~ %

I have attached a patch that seems to solve this issue. It works
for me. Please tell me if there is any problem.

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diff -u -r postgresql-8.1.3.orig/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c
postgresql-8.1.3/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c
- --- postgresql-8.1.3.orig/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c 2005-11-23
02:23:26.000000000 +0800
+++ postgresql-8.1.3/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c 2006-05-07 14:07:30.000000000
+0800
@@ -1420,9 +1420,10 @@
{
PG_CMD_DECL;

- - char *pwd1,
+ char *pwd1, *pwdesc,
*pwd2;
char pwdpath[MAXPGPATH];
+ size_t pwdlen;
struct stat statbuf;

if (pwprompt)
@@ -1484,8 +1485,11 @@

PG_CMD_OPEN;

+ pwdlen = strlen(pwd1);
+ pwdesc = (char *)pg_malloc(pwdlen * 2 + 1);
+ PQescapeString(pwdesc, pwd1, pwdlen);
PG_CMD_PRINTF2("ALTER USER \"%s\" WITH PASSWORD '%s';\n",
- - effective_user, pwd1);
+ effective_user, pwdesc);

PG_CMD_CLOSE;

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---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to
choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not
match

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Has anyone notice this? I found that this is not fixed in the 8.1.4
release.

I have made a new patch for 8.1.4. It is attached below. Please
tell me if there is any problem. Thank you.

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diff -u -r postgresql-8.1.4.orig/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c postgresql-8.1.4/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c
- --- postgresql-8.1.4.orig/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c 2006-02-24 08:55:27.000000000 +0800
+++ postgresql-8.1.4/src/bin/initdb/initdb.c 2006-05-25 12:30:34.000000000 +0800
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@
#include <langinfo.h>
#endif

+#include "libpq-fe.h"
#include "libpq/pqsignal.h"
#include "mb/pg_wchar.h"
#include "getaddrinfo.h"
@@ -1419,9 +1420,10 @@
{
PG_CMD_DECL;

- - char *pwd1,
+ char *pwd1, *pwdesc,
*pwd2;
char pwdpath[MAXPGPATH];
+ size_t pwdlen;
struct stat statbuf;

if (pwprompt)
@@ -1483,8 +1485,12 @@

PG_CMD_OPEN;

+ pwdlen = strlen(pwd1);
+ pwdesc = (char *)pg_malloc(pwdlen * 2 + 1);
+ PQescapeString(pwdesc, pwd1, pwdlen);
PG_CMD_PRINTF2("ALTER USER \"%s\" WITH PASSWORD '%s';\n",
- - username, pwd1);
+ username, pwdesc);
+ free(pwdesc);

PG_CMD_CLOSE;

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On Sun, 7 May 2006 06:28:53 GMT
"imacat" <imacat (AT) mail (DOT) imacat.idv.tw> wrote:
--
Best regards,
imacat ^_*' <imacat (AT) mail (DOT) imacat.idv.tw>
PGP Key: http://www.imacat.idv.tw/me/pgpkey.txt

<<Woman's Voice>> News: http://www.wov.idv.tw/
Tavern IMACAT's: http://www.imacat.idv.tw/
TLUG List Manager: http://lists.linux.org.tw/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tlug

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Your patch has been added to the PostgreSQL unapplied patches list at:

http://momjian.postgresql.org/cgi-bin/pgpatches

It will be applied as soon as one of the PostgreSQL committers reviews
and approves it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


imacat wrote:
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--
Bruce Momjian http://candle.pha.pa.us
EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com

+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings

Bruce Momjian <pgman (AT) candle (DOT) pha.pa.us> writes:
I don't particularly like this patch, because it is predicated on a
false assumption, namely that initdb uses libpq to talk to the backend.
ISTM PQescapeString is not the thing to use. (As a concrete example
of why not, there'll be no way to make it use the correct value of
standard_conforming_strings, when that default changes.)

I think the best solution is probably to use the existing escape_quotes
function and to place its output in an E'' string.

I looked through initdb to see if there were any other places where it
was creating SQL string literals that might have escaping problems.
All of the COPY commands it issues are potentially at risk: consider
the possibility that the installation sharedir has a quote or backslash
in its path. I didn't see any other holes though.

Will fix this later today.

regards, tom lane

---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 9: In versions below 8.0, the planner will ignore your desire to
choose an index scan if your joining column's datatypes do not
match

Yes, I was going to rework the patch to use the ideas you suggested. I
wasn't going to apply it as-is. Anyway, feel free to address it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tom Lane wrote:
--
Bruce Momjian http://candle.pha.pa.us
EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com

+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend

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On Sat, 27 May 2006 13:26:24 -0400 (EDT)
Bruce Momjian <pgman (AT) candle (DOT) pha.pa.us> wrote:
Thank you for your attention. I thought my patch need to be
reworked, too. I use rather long and complex password for the initial
user "postgres" so that I don't have to remember it. I do hope this
simple issue could be solved soon.

And for the path escaping problem, well, almost all Unix
applications have this issue to be solved. The Perl doesn't work with
an installation prefix with spaces, thus can't be installed into
"C:\Program Files". I hope this could be solved, too, though I myself
am not in rush need of this.

--
Best regards,
imacat ^_*' <imacat (AT) mail (DOT) imacat.idv.tw>
PGP Key: http://www.imacat.idv.tw/me/pgpkey.txt

<<Woman's Voice>> News: http://www.wov.idv.tw/
Tavern IMACAT's: http://www.imacat.idv.tw/
TLUG List Manager: http://lists.linux.org.tw/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tlug

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