[Richard Crowley]

"philicorda" wrote ...
Richard Crowley wrote:
"philicorda" wrote ...
"Richard Crowley" wrote:
1- Any program can intentionally turn off the RO bit, then write,
then
turn on the bit.

Only if they have permission to do so.

That kind of "permission" in most operating systems (including
Windows
and Linux/Mac) is a gentlemen's agreement. People who write malware
are
not gentlemen.

It's a bit more than that, isn't it? I mean, if any program can run as
any user, with whatever privileges it likes, there is not much point
to
having any security at all.

I take it you aren't a programmer, then?
It is not a matter of "run as any user".
With very few exceptions most executables have
access to the complete array of OS services (APIs)
including diddling file flags, and reading, writing, and
deleting files. There are rules and conventions for what
apps ought to do. And all proper programs abide by
these conventions. Of course malware doesn't, that is
why they call it "malware" But there is no strict enforcement
unless you add some oppressive 3rd party overseer.

To elevate privileges requires finding a bug in the operating system
or
another app with higher privileges and successfully exploiting it.
This
is not unheard of, but it's a bit more involved than breaking a
gentleman's agreement.

You don't need "elevated priveleges" to do basic data
file manipulation.