-> To say the least, this issue is not well covered, at least publicly:
->
-> - the documentation does not talk about it;
-> - grep'ing the source code for `security` or `trust` gives no answer.
->
-> I'll ask their opinion to the po4a maintainers.
->
-> I'm not in a position to audit the code, but I had a look anyway:
->
-> - no use of `system()`, `exec()` or backticks in `Locale::Po4a`; are
-> there any other way to run external programs in Perl?
-> - a symlink attack vulnerability was already discovered, so I "hope"
-> the code has been checked to find some more already
-> - the po4a parts we are using themselves use the following Perl
-> modules: `DynaLoader`, `Encode`, `Encode::Guess`,
-> `Text::WrapI18N`, `Locale::gettext` (`bindtextdomain`,
-> `textdomain`, `gettext`, `dgettext`)
->
-> --[[intrigeri]]
+To say the least, this issue is not well covered, at least publicly:
+
+- the documentation does not talk about it;
+- grep'ing the source code for `security` or `trust` gives no answer.
+
+On the other hand, a po4a developer answered my questions in
+a convincing manner, stating that processing untrusted content was not
+an initial goal, and analysing in detail the possible issues.
+
+#### Already checked
+
+- the core (`Po.pm`, `Transtractor.pm`) should be safe
+- po4a source code was fully checked for other potential symlink
+ attacks, after discovery of one such issue
+- the only external program run by the core is `diff`, in `Po.pm` (in
+ parts of its code we don't use)
+- `Locale::gettext`: only used to display translated error messages
+- Nicolas François "hopes" `DynaLoader` is safe, and has "no reason to
+ think that `Encode` is not safe"
+- Nicolas François has "no reason to think that `Encode::Guess` is not
+ safe". The po plugin nevertheless avoids using it by defining the
+ input charset (`file_in_charset`) before asking `Transtractor` to
+ read any file. NB: this hack depends on po4a internals to stay
+ the same.
+
+##### Locale::Po4a modules
+
+The modules we want to use have to be checked, as not all are safe
+(e.g. the LaTeX module's behaviour is changed by commands included in
+the content); they may use regexps generated from the content.
+
+`Chooser.pm` only loads the plugin we tell it too: currently, this
+means the `Text` module only.
+
+`Text` module (I checked the CVS version):
+
+- it does not run any external program
+- only `do_paragraph()` builds regexp's that expand untrusted
+ variables; they seem safe to me, but someone more expert than me
+ will need to check. Joey?
+
+ > Freaky code, but seems ok due to use of `quotementa`.
+
+#### To be checked
+
+##### Text::WrapI18N
+
+`Text::WrapI18N` can cause DoS (see the
+[Debian bug #470250](http://bugs.debian.org/470250)), but it is
+optional and we do not need the features it provides.
+
+> I proposed a patch based on Joey's to po4a-devel, allowing to fully
+> disable this module's use. When it is merged upstream, we'll need to add
+> `use Locale::Po4a::Common qw(nowrapi18n)` to `po.pm`, before loading
+> any other `Locale::Po4a` module. A versioned dependency may be needed.
+> --[[intrigeri]]
+
+##### Term::ReadKey
+
+`Term::ReadKey` is not a hard dependency in our case, *i.e.* po4a
+works nicely without it. But the po4a Debian package recommends
+`libterm-readkey-perl`, so it will probably be installed on most
+systems using the po plugin.
+
+`Term::ReadKey` has too far reaching implications for us to
+be able to guarantee anything wrt. security.
+
+> The option that disables `Text::WrapI18N` also disables
+> `Term::ReadKey` as a consequence. [[--intrigeri]]
+
+### msgmerge
+
+`refreshpofiles()` runs this external program.
+
+A po4a developer answered he does "not expect any security issues from
+it". I did not manage to crash it with `zzuf`, nor was able to find
+any past security holes.
+
+### msgfmt
+
+`isvalidpo()` runs this external program.
+
+* I could not manage to make it behave badly using zzuf, it exits
+ cleanly when too many errors are detected.
+* I could not find any past security holes.