From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Oct 25 12:58:58 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E291C16A4CE for ; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:58:58 +0000 (GMT) Received: from faceman.servitor.co.uk (faceman.servitor.co.uk [80.71.15.146]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0BC5343D5C for ; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:58:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wiggy@servitor.co.uk) Received: from wiggy by faceman.servitor.co.uk with local (Exim 4.30) id 1CM4R9-0008ZT-M6; Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:58:59 +0100 Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 13:58:59 +0100 From: Paul Robinson To: Martin Welk Message-ID: <20041025125859.GH18312@iconoplex.co.uk> References: <200410242157.i9OLvRtV011244@2ens11.uta.edu> <20041025114050.GA86965@theatre.sax.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20041025114050.GA86965@theatre.sax.de> Sender: Paul Robinson cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: RedHat: Buffer Overflow in "ls" and "mkdir" X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 12:58:59 -0000 On Mon, Oct 25, 2004 at 01:40:50PM +0200, Martin Welk wrote: > Well, this might be the reason why Linux will never be able to get through > into a mass market... You even have to install your viruses and worms > manually. This came up today as well: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/25/mac_rootkit_opener/ But the Reg, being the Reg, still stand firm: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/10/22/linux_v_windows_security/ Thing about OS security, is that I think market penetration does make a difference. There hasn't been a hole announced in Plan 9 or QNX in, well, years, but if either had > 10% penetration in the Internet, I think you'd start to see more and more attacks. It's exactly what happened to NT4 - for ages considered secure until people started installing it and then the holes just opened up for all to see. I don't know whether I have told this list before, but I used to work with a guy who was doing penetration tests and auditing code for the company I was at. He claimed that nobody had ever really taken a close look at VMS from a security point of view due to market penetration, so whilst Compaq were claiming it to be the most secure OS on the planet, he was able to use exploits that would have worked against BSD boxes 10 years ago. Unbelieveable stuff. He did announce some, they were mostly holes in the TCP/IP stack addon most sites were using. Just out of curiosity, are the security patch-ups being committed over at OpenBSD still finding their way over here? I haven't been watching much for the last 12 months. -- Paul Robinson http://www.iconoplex.co.uk/ "All I know is I'm not a Marxist" - Karl Marx