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Two complaints with the linked "local root kernel exploit": 1) The linked page says that it's a local DoS bug. Being subject to denial-of-service from local us

Two complaints with the linked "local root kernel exploit": 1) The linked page says that it's a local DoS bug. Being subject to denial-of-service from local users is hardly critical. 2) Even if it were, as the link text seems to imply, a local privilege escalation vulnerability, it is my understanding that that sort of vulnerability is generally not considered critical, because an attacker needs to have compromised a local account to use them. Of course, if you're a shared hosting service, I suppose you might beg to differ, depending on how you're set up.

pquerna 17y ago
I'm sorry if you didn't like that specific link -- I am happy to provide others: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36901 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33412 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33412 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37806 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/34405 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37036 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37806 those were just from 2 minutes of googling, and only ones for 2009. Regarding your second point, security is all about having multiple layers, but the truth is the effectiveness of having code run in non-root users is a useless precaution in this day and age. My point is that people always talk about their great uptime on their servers, without realizing how insanely insecure modern kernels and operating systems are -- unless you are upgrading every month, there is most likely a well known local privilege escalation vulnerability on your machine. Once they have root, hackers can do all kinds of fun things, like replacing your SSH binary and logging all your passwords. As Luke mentions above, if a sysadmin's workstation is ever hacked into, the implications can quickly become immense.
AngryParsley 17y ago
Local root exploit + vulnerability in web app/framework/server/etc = remote root exploit.
lsc 17y ago
the problem with local privilege escalation issues is that they make a compromise in any service a root compromise. Still, as a service provider, the scenario that concerns me most is one of the sysadmins working from a compromised workstation.

pquerna 17y ago

I'm sorry if you didn't like that specific link -- I am happy to provide others: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/36901 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33412 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/33412 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37806 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/34405 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37036 http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/37806 those were just from 2 minutes of googling, and only ones for 2009. Regarding your second point, security is all about having multiple layers, but the truth is the effectiveness of having code run in non-root users is a useless precaution in this day and age. My point is that people always talk about their great uptime on their servers, without realizing how insanely insecure modern kernels and operating systems are -- unless you are upgrading every month, there is most likely a well known local privilege escalation vulnerability on your machine. Once they have root, hackers can do all kinds of fun things, like replacing your SSH binary and logging all your passwords. As Luke mentions above, if a sysadmin's workstation is ever hacked into, the implications can quickly become immense.

AngryParsley 17y ago

Local root exploit + vulnerability in web app/framework/server/etc = remote root exploit.

lsc 17y ago

the problem with local privilege escalation issues is that they make a compromise in any service a root compromise. Still, as a service provider, the scenario that concerns me most is one of the sysadmins working from a compromised workstation.