In the 90s, Apache shipped a CGI script that let anyone read any file on the server
kingslyj · x · 2026-10-22
An old-school security anecdote: in the 90s, Apache shipped with a CGI script that allowed reading any file on the system. The author recalls clicking a link someone pasted in IRC and grabbing a server's /etc/passwd, then running John the Ripper to crack cleartext passwords and log in to read other people's mail.
His point: it hardly counted as elite hacking — infrastructure security gaps back then were just that easy to exploit.
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