Sockets

[dsr at tao.merseine.nu]

On Sun, Oct 17, 2004 at 08:52:32AM -0400, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> 
> There is a protocol called ASN.1 (http://asn1.elibel.tm.fr/en/) that is
> used in some places. Essentially, everything is encoded into a TLD
> (type-length-data) scheme where every data type is encoded as a byte
> (eg. 32 bit int might be 1, char string (eg. octet) might be 2, user
> defined 4, ...). The length is usually encoded in 7 bits. If the length
> is longer than 127, then the length byte becomes a negative length of
> the length. Example, sending a packet containing a string "abc", and int
> 123:
> 40X0A23abc13123
> The 0x0A is the length of the packet 

Argh!

Bad ASN.1 parsers have been responsible for zillions of security
holes in the last few years. 

When designing a protocol, please keep in mind the following
concepts:

- first, if at all feasible, use an existing protocol. Best of
  all a widely-known standard.

- second, if possible, extend an existing protocol. Make sure
  you increment the version number or otherwise indicate your
  incompatibilities with the original.

- third, design your protocol to look like a proven existing
  standard protocol. Keep it as simple as possible.

- fourth, make sure it is at least human readable and writable
  for the simpler exchanges. This will be of enormous help in
  debugging.

- fifth, if you can't do any of the above, at least document the
  protocol so rigorously that any half-competent beginning
  programmer can write a working client. If you don't know
  BNF, learn it.

-dsr- tired of gratuitously incompatible protocols