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Just for the sake of discussion, as a long time Linux user (but never a Crowdstrike user) -- is there anything about this outage that could only have happened o

Just for the sake of discussion, as a long time Linux user (but never a Crowdstrike user) -- is there anything about this outage that could only have happened on Windows? If the update had been broken in another way, could it have crashed all Ubuntu machines, or all Macs? Not excusing what happened in any way, I'm just curious.

vdfs 2y ago
Did already happen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41018029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41018029 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41005936 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41005936
lwhi 2y ago
Linux doesn't have a BSOD .. is this the equivalent of a kernel panic?
- vdfs 2y ago
  systemd, a software suite providing system components for the Linux operating systems, implements a blue screen of death similar to those of Microsoft Windows using a systemd unit called systemd-bsod since August 2023, which was fully added on December 6, 2023 starting with version 255 of systemd.[36] It does not replace the kernel panic featured within Linux (see below); rather, it is only used in the event of a boot failure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death#Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death#Linux
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  It does now: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-DRM-Panic-BSoD-Picture https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-DRM-Panic-BSoD-Picture But yeah, kernel panics or the equivalent happen to ~all OSs.
chubs 2y ago
I did read somewhere yesterday that macOS does not allow third party software to run at kernel level in the same way, thus couldn’t face the same issue.
cowsandmilk 2y ago
MacOS doesn’t allow third party kernel modules any more, so CrowdStrike on Mac can’t cause the same problem. On Linux, the latest versions of CrowdStrike use eBPF while older versions were kernel modules. The older versions definitely could have had the same issue. In theory, use of eBPF should prevent the same problem in the newer Linux version.
ssl-3 2y ago
Bad software updates can come from anywhere, and it remains bad no matter what the intention is and no matter what operating system it runs on. When people install bad kernel-level software, they open their systems up to [more] kernel-level flaws and crashes.

vdfs 2y ago

Did already happen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41018029 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41018029 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41005936 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41005936

lwhi 2y ago

Linux doesn't have a BSOD .. is this the equivalent of a kernel panic?

vdfs 2y ago
systemd, a software suite providing system components for the Linux operating systems, implements a blue screen of death similar to those of Microsoft Windows using a systemd unit called systemd-bsod since August 2023, which was fully added on December 6, 2023 starting with version 255 of systemd.[36] It does not replace the kernel panic featured within Linux (see below); rather, it is only used in the event of a boot failure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death#Linux https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_screen_of_death#Linux
yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
It does now: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-DRM-Panic-BSoD-Picture https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-DRM-Panic-BSoD-Picture But yeah, kernel panics or the equivalent happen to ~all OSs.

chubs 2y ago

I did read somewhere yesterday that macOS does not allow third party software to run at kernel level in the same way, thus couldn’t face the same issue.

cowsandmilk 2y ago

MacOS doesn’t allow third party kernel modules any more, so CrowdStrike on Mac can’t cause the same problem. On Linux, the latest versions of CrowdStrike use eBPF while older versions were kernel modules. The older versions definitely could have had the same issue. In theory, use of eBPF should prevent the same problem in the newer Linux version.

ssl-3 2y ago

Bad software updates can come from anywhere, and it remains bad no matter what the intention is and no matter what operating system it runs on. When people install bad kernel-level software, they open their systems up to [more] kernel-level flaws and crashes.