[Bf-committers] Please turn off Auto Run Python Scripts by default

[Yu Asakusa]

Thank you for the reply, and especially for the pointer to the
previous discussion in April and May 2010.  I was not aware of it.

I think I took a look at all the messages in that thread in the
archive.  Now I understand it is unacceptable to some people to
disable autoruns by default.  So I will change my suggestion to the
following:  Please add an option to confirm before Blender runs Python
scripts automatically, and turn on this new option by default.
Probably this option should be ignored in the batch mode.

I tried to find this suggestion in the past thread, but I could not
find it.  Excuse me if this was already suggested and rejected for
some reason and I overlooked it, but in that case I am curious what
the reason for rejection was.

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 8:15 AM, Brecht Van Lommel
<brechtvanlommel at pandora.be> wrote:
> There was a decision to turn autorun on even if it causes potential
> security issues, what it comes down to is that we can't really secure
> python scripts, but they are critical for many artists worksflows.
>
> For a long discussion on the topic see here:
> http://lists.blender.org/pipermail/bf-committers/2010-April/027216.html
>
> On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Yu Asakusa <yu.asakusa at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> Currently “Auto Run Python Scripts” in the File tab in the user
>> preferences (UserPreferencesSystem.use_scripts_auto_execute in Python)
>> is turned on by default.  Please turn it off by default.
>>
>> The current default setting means that when users open a blend file,
>> Blender runs any Python scripts in the file as long as they are marked
>> for auto-run.  Python scripts can read/write local files and do other
>> malicious things.  Therefore, if users would like to open an untrusted
>> blend file, they must explicitly disable auto-run by either turning
>> off “Auto Run Python Scripts” in the user preferences or turning off
>> the “Trusted Source” checkbox in the File Browser window.  (See also
>> my post on Google+
>> <https://plus.google.com/u/0/102042171744549015655/posts/2ayrQg2gUG6>.)
>>
>> I do not think many users know it is dangerous to open an untrusted
>> blend file with the default settings in Blender.  It is different from
>> the common expectation for file-editing programs such as word
>> processors: opening an untrusted file in file-editing programs is
>> usually not considered to be a security risk.  In other words, in
>> file-editing programs, it is program’s responsibility to prevent
>> attacks even if users open malicious files.  Depending on the point of
>> view, the current default behavior may be considered as a security
>> vulnerability in Blender because of the mismatch between user’s
>> expectation and the actual behavior.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Yu
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