[Python-Dev] Remove tempfile.mktemp() (original) (raw)

Sebastian Rittau srittau at rittau.biz
Tue Mar 19 12:44:19 EDT 2019

Am 19.03.19 um 17:23 schrieb Giampaolo Rodola':

@Sebastian

If there are valid use cases for mktemp(), I recommend renaming it to mknameunsafe() or something equally obvious. I'm -1 about adding an alias (there should be one and preferably only one way to do it). Also mkstemp() and mkdtemp() are somewhat poorly named IMO, but I wouldn't add an alias for them either. Just to clarify: I was not suggesting creating an alias, I was suggesting renaming the function, but keeping the old name for a normal deprecation cycle.

But I had another thought: If I understand correctly, the exploitability of mktemp() relies on the fact that between determining whether the file exists and creation an attacker can create the file themselves. Couldn't this problem be solved by generating a filename of sufficient length using the secrets module? This way the filename should be "unguessable" and safe.

 - Sebastian

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