insecure memory warning

[Tony Nelson]

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There are two ways to disable this message:

If you have root access to the gpg executable then you can change gpg to be
suid:

chmod 4755 gpg

there is also an option --no-secmem-warning that is documented in the manual

Basically, what this warning is telling you is that gpg is unable to lock=
=20
memory for the exclusive use of gpg (ie, no other programs/processes/etc)
can inspect the state of the program and it's internal data.  if the box th=
at
you are using is private (like your own linux box) then this warning has le=
ss
meaning than if you are running gpg on your ISP's box w/ 300 different user=
s.

=46rom a security standpoint, any possible way that your data can be potent=
ially
exploited should be reported, and gpg is doing a good job of telling you
about it.

Hope this helps.

Tony

On Fri, Jan 14, 2000 at 12:30:04PM -0500, hardpack wrote:
>=20
> i'm a new user of gpg, and i've installed it to encrypt data files,
> not for delivery, but for secure storage.
>=20
> i'm running red hat linux 5.1 and have installed gpg from the source
> (not from any rpm).
>=20
> since i'm encrypting for secure storage (and not for mail), i've=20
> chosen to use the --symmetric option with gpg.  when i run it on
> a file, i receive this message:
>=20
>   gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!
>=20
> what does this mean?  how bad is this?=20
>=20
> also, is --symmetric the correct option to use?  and how strong is
> the encryption when there is no passing of keys? =20
>=20
> thank you.
>=20

--=20
Tony Nelson                                          Standard Disclaimers A=
pply=20

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