[linux-cifs-client] Password value with punctuation mark (!) doesn't make it through mount.cifs as it did with smbmount

[Thierry Moreau]

Dear cifs maintainers:

I'm reporting a small bug which was tedious to diagnose but easy to 
circumvent.

 From Suse Linux 10.1 distribution, I got the smbmount command, while a 
new system installation on this same local network used Opensuse 10.3 
with cifs-mount-3.0.26a-3.1.91.x86_64.rpm. The smbfs is gone, welcome cifs.

The command

mount.cifs (or mount -t cifs) ... ... -o " ... ,password=abcdef?a99\!"

didn't work as it did with smbmount. Suse 10.1 vs Suse 10.3 does not 
matter, it's -t cifs vs -t smbfs that's making a difference.

Changing the password to " ... ,password=abcdef?a99" fixed the problem 
with cifs-client. I understand that the \ character in \! is needed for 
bash command syntax.

For your information: In the troubleshooting efforts, I looked at traces 
from the network sniffer etherreal, and I noticed that the ascii and 
unicode passwords (well, a crypto transform of password) on the wire 
were identical for cifs and different for smbfs. I noticed a post on 
this mailing list indicating that the smbfs password transform was very 
easy to crack, so the cifs is higher security.

Anyway, I observed a limitation in handling punctuation marks in 
passwords in cifs client utilies. If it helps you to improve this very 
valuable software product, I'll be pleased.

Best regards,

-- 

- Thierry Moreau

CONNOTECH Experts-conseils inc.
9130 Place de Montgolfier
Montreal, Qc
Canada   H2M 2A1

Tel.: (514)385-5691
Fax:  (514)385-5900

web site: http://www.connotech.com
e-mail: thierry.moreau at connotech.com