[3.12] gh-74453: Add stronger security warning to os.path.commonprefix

gh-74453: Add stronger security warning to os.path.commonprefix (GH-144401)
(cherry picked from commit 4e15b8d95da9a0f58ad58283979c37e43ff61229)

Co-authored-by: Seth Michael Larson <seth@python.org>

diff --git a/Doc/library/os.path.rst b/Doc/library/os.path.rst
index 4208c7293876bae2597825436c7cf61b461f631d..fb6ac3eab92e8f2b5f02833df6d7b37f099427ec 100644 (file)
--- a/Doc/library/os.path.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/os.path.rst
@@ -93,15 +93,17 @@ the :mod:`glob` module.)
 
 .. function:: commonprefix(list)
 
-   Return the longest path prefix (taken character-by-character) that is a
-   prefix of all paths in  *list*.  If *list* is empty, return the empty string
+   Return the longest string prefix (taken character-by-character) that is a
+   prefix of all strings in *list*.  If *list* is empty, return the empty string
    (``''``).
 
-   .. note::
+   .. warning::
 
       This function may return invalid paths because it works a
-      character at a time.  To obtain a valid path, see
-      :func:`commonpath`.
+      character at a time.
+      If you need a **common path prefix**, then the algorithm
+      implemented in this function is not secure. Use
+      :func:`commonpath` for finding a common path prefix.
 
       ::