Risks of setuid root on gpg

jrdioko · 01-13-2006, 01:03 PM

When running gpg as a normal user, I received a warning that insecure memory was being used, and was directed to a FAQ that tells me to change the binary to setuid root. I know it's a trusted program that will drop root as soon as possible, but I just wanted to double-check and ask if there are any security risks involved with doing this. I'm very hesitant to set anything setuid root. Thanks in advance.

slantoflight · 01-14-2006, 07:10 AM

Well I guess the worst case scenario would be that the program does'nt release root and hacker finds some way to exploit it and use your computer to crash the internet. But other than that unlikely possibility, everythings fine.