[turbert]

A correct implementation would be to just call glibc directly, this seems like a hasty fix to get the patch out the door. The history of vulns from bad shell escaping is as old as bash, whenever possible you probably shouldn't be mixing code and data, especially in a security critical application like this.

[raggi]

The fact that there is no portable way to link the relevant functions that works reliably across all distributions of Linux is a failure of POSIX and GNU, and unfortunately is largely the Linux distribution story in a nutshell.

Your answer is mostly correct, except that when you tug on that thread the shelf comes off the wall, the plaster comes with it, and then it cracks the water pipes on the way to the floor.