3 ms·

> Lots of hoops to jump through for a well-configured & internet connected box. This is a pretty typical assumption for most local privilege escalation bugs.

• bayindirh 3y ago
  As a system administrator, I think I can make some assumptions and observations about the systems I manage.
  • lightedman 3y ago
    Those are some pretty famous last words, speaking as someone with over 35 years of hardware and software experience.
    • bayindirh 3y ago
      Yes you're right. This doesn't mean I ignore vulnerabilities and play PacMan. Instead, I harden my systems first, observe and patch my systems second, and play PacMan then. Jokes aside, we never take vulnerabilities lightly. However, we stick to our best practices and yet stay diligent.
    • LoganDark 3y ago
      Assuming that local user access is simply impossible is a problem. But assuming that local user access means you're already fucked can be pretty damn honest. And sysadmins are the people who will know this the best.
      • bayindirh 3y ago
        Yes. If somebody can login to a machine which they shouldn’t, local exploits are least of our concerns, because this means we have bigger failures in many layers up to that point.
      • snvzz 3y ago
        >But assuming that local user access means you're already fucked can be pretty damn honest. Compartmentation through VMs or containers (docker et al) tends to be assumed sufficient. The world relies on this to work yet Linux, unlike seL4[0], cannot guarantee separation. 0. https://sel4.systems/About/ https://sel4.systems/About/
        • LoganDark 3y ago
          When you're running malicious code on your server, it's way, way different. And in fact, supply chain attacks are a great example of this. I think seL4 is interesting, but nobody actually runs production servers on this research project.
          • snvzz 3y ago
            >on this research project. seL4 is much more than a research project today, with a well-established seL4 foundation that has a lot of high-profile commercial members[0]. It is already used in the most critical applications that require levels of assurance only seL4 can provide. 0. https://sel4.systems/Foundation/Membership/ https://sel4.systems/Foundation/Membership/
            • LoganDark 3y ago
              > It is already used in the most critical applications that require levels of assurance only seL4 can provide. This sounds to me like embedded controĺ systems (airplanes, life support, etc.), not production servers for everyday internet services. seL4 isn't exactly an everyday pull from a security toolkit though? It's like an entire paradigm. You build a business around the fact that you use seL4, you don't pull it off the shelf for an internet server. In order to make a pie from scratch you must first create the universe. That's seL4.
              • snvzz 3y ago
                >In order to make a pie from scratch you must first create the universe. That's seL4. While somewhat true still, much progress has been made and the situation isn't the same as five years ago. Furthermore, there's multiple ongoing efforts to bring seL4 closer to turn-key, such as Makatea[0], Genode[1] and sel4cp[2]. 0. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/TS/makatea https://trustworthy.systems/projects/TS/makatea 1. https://www.genode.org/ https://www.genode.org/ 2. https://trustworthy.systems/projects/TS/sel4cp/ https://trustworthy.systems/projects/TS/sel4cp/