Re: [OT] Re: [tlug] Sorry to Hijack a thread but whats wrong with LILO

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

Quoth Martin Baehr (Tue 2003-02-25 03:27:14PM +0100):
> 
> was it this list or another where the argument was made that there are
> hardly any exploitable kernelbugs out there.

Not this list, I think.

> if there is a security problem, it's always userland.

I disagree. Case in point: newer kernels in the 2.4.x series (at least, the
ones packaged by Gentoo and Red Hat--I cannot comment on the vanilla tree)
allow you to add zlib support *to the kernel*! Needless to say (so why am I
saying it?), I avoid such stupidity. I also avoid things like Tux. If you
run a webserver in kernel mode, expect buffer overflows, chunking exploits,
etc to bite you in the arse, and hard.

Anyway, getting back to zlib, anyone who reads BugTraq knows that zlib has
had a bad six months or so. If you have that code in your kernel, voila:
you have a kernel vuln.

In a perfect world, Martin, you *should* be right. In BSD, for example,
kernel bugs are less frequent, due to the BSD developers being able to resist
the stupid urge to drop the kitchen sink in the bloody kernel.

In the Linux world, you are flat wrong.


-- 
Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>

Associate Systems Administrator
INCOGEN, Inc.
http://www.incogen.com/

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