Linux 64 bit Kernel exploit - patch your systems now

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freitasm

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#68372 20-Sep-2010 16:20

Just posting this because seeing some Linux users are in the "Linux is so secure I don't have to worry" camp...

Story on Slashdot, security advisory.

And yes, I know it requires access to the machine. But as a system admin do you know what your end users are doing right now?

muppet

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#382342 20-Sep-2010 16:26

freitasm: But as a system admin do you know what your end users are doing right now?

Yes, because I lock the entire system down with Grsecurity. So running your own binary isn't allowed on my systems, it has to be a root owned binary in a root owned directory. Plus everything executed is logged if you're untrusted.

But being a smart-arse aside, this is big hole. But it's nowhere near as bad as that slashdot article paints it!

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

OOOHHHH HYPERFIBRE!

freitasm

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#382347 20-Sep-2010 16:31

You are a good admin and do it. There are hundreds of thousands of systems around, and most likely some underpaid admin is not doing it. So why not let people know about this?

I posted this on Twitter and the only thing I got was replies from haters who started attacking with comments that sound like "Oh, but Linux is still safer." or "This is not as bad as the Windows problems".

For $deity sake, I am not into "my OS is bigger than yours", but just posting a courtesy note, a reminder, to those admins who might have missed it.

muppet

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#382350 20-Sep-2010 16:34

Yea, like I said, I was just being a smart arse.

My main point (I guess not very clearly made) was that the Slashdot article is extremely alarmist when it doesn't need to be. Not that it wasn't worth posting.

Audiophiles are such twits! They buy such pointless stuff: Gold plated cables, $2000 power cords. Idiots.

OOOHHHH HYPERFIBRE!

oldmaknz

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#382352 20-Sep-2010 16:36

There are a load more 0day local root exploits. Any good sysop will be able to keep people off regular users anyway.

+++ GRsec, great modification for all Linux admins.

Will patch soon. I get automatic upgrades from Cron-apt but I assume it'll be a while before the kernel is patched.

michaelmurfy

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#382355 20-Sep-2010 16:38

Puppet is good :) - All my systems are clean.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
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oldmaknz

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#382356 20-Sep-2010 16:40

In fact, this was patched in Ubuntu last week. Admins just need to perform a simple upgrade. Done and done :P