Use lynx to browse local files using a remote URL
Apr 26, '04 08:52:00AM • Contributed by: excalbian
Apr 26, '04 08:52:00AM • Contributed by: excalbian
Imagine having one of your webmaster friends over and showing them how easy it is to "hack" thier server from your 'all powerful' Mac. Just use lynx (available via Fink) and put in the server URL followed by a ../ path and you will be presented with a file system browsing interface!
It is actually showing your local filesystem for some reason, but for a simple scare it can be quite convincing -- took me for a four-hour loop on one of my own servers the other day! For example, I have my friend Rob (from MacOSXHints) over and open up a terminal window:
[robg adds: If you want to browse your local filesystem the 'proper' way in lynx, just tell it to open file:///, and you'll be taken to the top-level of your machine's hard drive.]
It is actually showing your local filesystem for some reason, but for a simple scare it can be quite convincing -- took me for a four-hour loop on one of my own servers the other day! For example, I have my friend Rob (from MacOSXHints) over and open up a terminal window:
# ~> lynx www.macosxhints.com/../../../etclynx will now open up with a listing of the contents of the etc directory (mine not his, but at first glance you would think that it was his I had pulled up!). As far as I can tell this is a 'feature' of lynx, but I can't find any documentation as to why it exists.
[robg adds: If you want to browse your local filesystem the 'proper' way in lynx, just tell it to open file:///, and you'll be taken to the top-level of your machine's hard drive.]
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