Gentoo rsync Server Compromised [updated]

costela writes "LWN points out that the Gentoo project fired out an alert about one compromised rsync server." From the message itself: "However, the compromised system had both an IDS and a file integrity checker installed and we have a very detailed forensic trail of what happened once the box was breached, so we are reasonably confident that the portage tree stored on that box was unaffected." Update: 12/03 22:54 GMT by T : One more damage report: gibson writes "The Free Software Foundation recently discovered that its software host site was compromised a month ago. The compromise appears to be the same as the recent attacks on the Debian servers. The site is shut down until Friday while they install replacement hardware and verify the authenticity of the hosted source code."

Comments

so what was the remote exploit that was used?

[Squeezer]

so what was the remote exploit that was used?

Question from non-hacker

[selderrr]

In my book, peeps who make distros are as far from my computer knowledge as me from my mom. I simply can not understand how those websites can be hacked.

Did 'they' really get shell access ? Or did they manage to upload a file into the tree ? Is it not possible at all to secure a server ? Slashdot, being one of the most known websites in nerd-universe must be under attack practically all the time I suppose; How come they can secure the site while Gentoo can not ? Is it so difficult that it requires a fulltime job from someone ? I always thought that it was enough to apply the current patches.

All this leaves me with a very uncomfortable feeling. I have some websites running on linux servers (not mine) from rackspace providers. Should I be worried ?

R'SYNC is my favorite boy band

[eponymous flower]

Don't they sing that song 'Bye Bye Bye'?