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Some Linux Distros Found Vulnerable By Default
TuringTest writes "Security Focus carries an article about a security compromise found on several major distros due to bad default settings in the Linux kernel. 'It's a sad day when an ancient fork bomb attack can still take down most of the latest Linux distributions', says the writer. The attack was performed by spawning lots of processes from a normal user shell. Is interesting to note that Debian was not among the distros that fell to the attack. The writer also praises the OpenBSD policy of Secure by Default."
Kittens are vulnerable to forks by default as well - you can easily get at the kernel if you just - oh, hang on, a different kind of fork, you say?
Thank god I use Windows, I'm safe!
Let's see how long it will take before someone says the study is invalid...
The study is invalid!!!
Unprivileged user can take down entire system by unplugging machine from power socket.
... some birds fly south for the winter, my belly sometimes makes gurgling noises and jam tastes nice on toast.
So what? Publish the vunerabilities, patch them, move on. Sheesh..
"So there he is, risen from the dead. Like that fella, E. T." - Father Ted Crilly
Sweet!
mark@stewie:~$ w
11:11:04 up 216 days, 19:50, 2 users, load average: 258.41, 767.84, 339.94
int main() { ;
;
while(1)
fork()
return 0
}
On a modern Unix/Unix-like system, you often have Perl. Save yourself the effort of compiling:
perl -e 'while(1){fork()}'
One thing I always liked to do was run this for about 1 minute, hit Ctrl-C, and see how long until the kernel finally manages to reap all the child processes and the system returns back to normal. Usually can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes before the system becomes responsive again.
(It *is* a great way to get impressive loadaverages of 500+ though!).
Get your own free personal location tracker
And if you are administrating a true multi-user old-style-Unix type server, you should know enough to stop people fork bombing you (i.e. quotas).
Or you can switch back to MS-DOS. Just one process; ultimate security!
Come on, I love Linux but the hypocrocy is a bit much ;-) Its OK to admit it was bad or admit MS's settings were OK, but you cannot do both.
This is just another example how Microsoft continuously neglects the security issues of its...oh its on Linux?!?...errr
Linux is an innovator in making itself user friendly by implementing a feature like this...
And the answer is:
5 minutes.
... whenever a text is transmitted, variation occurs. This is because human beings are careless, fallible, and occasiona
Many Linux users found to be insecure whenever the faults in their OS are pointed out. ;)
+5:offtopic,but anti-American
open source development
I've heard that kittens are even more vulnerable to people who indulge in self-gratification.
It's a shame I don't have a couple of hundred processors in my desktop PC, else I would have folded the fuck out of some proteins :)
Clearly, OpenBSD should re-evaluate its install process. The fact that OpenBSD installs so many exploitable executables like "ftpd", "telnet", "ping", "sed", "awk", "more", "grep", "ls", "mv", "sh", "getty" and "init" only details just how insecure the operating system really is by default. This kind of oversight should simply not be allowed. Yes, some old folks in the community may argue that some of these binaries that are piggy-backed on the operating system are "essential tools" for "interacting with the system", but those poor souls would be overlooking the seriously dangerous nature that allowing executable binaries to install on a live system presents.
perl -e "eval pack(q{H*},join q{},qw{70 72696e74207061636b28717b482a7d2c717b343 637323635363534323533343430617d293b})"
c:\>cmd 192.168.0.101
it brings you right back to the command prompt:
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
That's security right there. You can't even get a command prompt from another box within command.
Namaste
OMG, rm -rf / still works as root too!!
Why is Linux still vulnerable by default?
--fatboy