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Date:      Fri, 12 Dec 1997 05:48:30 GMT
From:      jak@cetlink.net (John Kelly)
To:        hackers@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   (fwd) Re: F00F bug *fixed* in 2.0.x kernels
Message-ID:  <3491cfe3.6774010@mail.cetlink.net>

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On 8 Dec 1997 23:11:24 GMT, in comp.os.linux.development.system
torvalds@transmeta.com (Linus Torvalds) wrote:

In article <vc7u3cjttap.fsf@saturn.cs.uml.edu>,
Albert D. Cahalan <acahalan@saturn.cs.uml.edu> wrote:
>Jerry Hicks <wghhicks@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
>> Wrong again Albert...
>
>Nope, you are wrong. This method is a _third_ solution.
>
>>>> My ``fix'' is to have the IDT descriptor reference a segemnt
>>>> which has a length of 0.  This has the effect of mapping SIGILL
>>>> into SIGBUS, so that the `cmpxchg8' crash now generates a Bus
>>>> error.  (I didn't bother returning the correct signal; it can
>>>> probably be added if it is important) 

This is indeed the "FreeBSD fix".

The so-called "fix" doesn't work (it appears to, for simple exploits,
but it doesn't), and I _told_ some FreeBSD people so: I even sent
people a test-program that will still lock up a FreeBSD system with
the "fix". 

If they are indeed still using that fix, they are a sorry lot of
incompetent idiots. 

		Linus




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