I have a java applet and i'm letting the user open a chess engine on their computer. Technically they can open any program now. but it wont work unless its a chess engine that uses the winboard protocol. My question is could they maliciously choose to open any sort of program that would inherit rights from the java applet to write to my web site. I dont care if they want to open a program that i didnt say should be open if it just messes with their computer. its a file chooser it should be clear what they are opening and that is on them. Down the road i may try to add some protection so if they open the wrong sort of program and i can identiy it i close it. I would consider that an ease of use thing to protect the user. but can i be assured no program they open has rights to the applets web page. I am aware that i can control the enviromental variables of the program i open but i am trying to figure out how much i need to do, particlarly at first. i use a RunTime and the the exec() method and save the program as a Process. the input and output of the program is captured from the process in input and output stream reader and writers.
thanks Mike