eval() function security

[metulburr]

I once used eval in an IRC bot to evaluate arithmetic expressions. Luckily the person was a white hat and kindly shown me an example of exploiting eval to gain access to my desktop. Had complete control to remove files or add them to my computer. I have never used eval again in a setting where there is an untrusted string. I would rather write up my own way to evaluate arithmetic expressions from now on. It might take a little more code, but it is worth it.