In some previous Firebird versions, if a full server path was supplied as the database name argument for remote access to a service, it would appear to be valid if the SYSDBA password was the same on both the client and the server. Under these conditions, no exception would be thrown and access would succeed.

For example, the following syntax for a remote call to gbak would appear valid if the remote client was running a Firebird server that had the same SYSDBA password as the remote server:

gbak -b -se dbhost:service_mgr dbhost:dbalias 
   /var2/backups/mydb.fbk -user SYSDBA -password masterke
    

This anomaly was a bug that, unfortunately, some developers have long regarded as an undocumented feature. In v.2.5, this syntax will except under any condition. The correct syntax should be:

gbak -b -se dbhost:service_mgr dbalias
   /var2/backups/mydb.fbk -user SYSDBA -password masterke

gbak -b -se dbhost:service_mgr d:\databases\mydb.fdb
   x:\backups\mydb.fbk -user SYSDBA -password masterke