Saint Pizza Thief, Burglar of Passive Ports

Patron of passive-mode FTP, ports numbered in a row, and people who pick up someone else's pizza.

Life

On 1 February 1999 Jeffrey R. Gerber published an advisory with a parable: in Mr Postel's pizza parlour, thieves listen to the order numbers, guess the next one and collect someone else's pizza. Likewise, when an FTP client asked for PASV, the server opened a data port and handed everything to whoever connected first; and since ports went up one at a time, guessing them was easy.

Prayer

O Saint Pizza Thief, who knows the order number before we do, let our servers ask for ID at the counter. Amen.

How to celebrate

Celebrated by checking that the data connection comes from the same address as the control one, or better, leaving FTP to the museums, and ordering a margherita.

Shout out your order number, and you'll be the last to eat.