5 ms·

Hi, guy who discovered the back door here. The flow was always BitKeeper => CVS, not CVS => BitKeeper. The only way this change would have made it into BK is

Hi, guy who discovered the back door here. The flow was always BitKeeper => CVS, not CVS => BitKeeper. The only way this change would have made it into BK is if one of the users of CVS tree modified the same area of code and included that change in a patch sent to Linus or one of the other BK users. The chances of that happening and not being caught in review were, in my opinion, zero. Ziltch. Just not possible, any reasonable programmer would have seen this. To this day I believe this was a script kiddy who broke in and wanted to see if he could stick a trojan in there and get root on machines that installed this code. Seems dicey at best because while some people used the CVS stuff at the time, all the releases were done from BK at that time so that code would have never hit mainstream distros.

lawnchair_larry 13y ago
Although you might feel motivated to deride the attacker, I think it's safe to say that this person was skilled beyond "script kiddy".
- luckydude 13y ago
  I'm old so maybe the meaning of "script kiddy" has evolved, but back in the day my understanding is that term applied to people who did this sort of thing. Maybe I misunderstand the term, hacking into machines is certainly not my area of expertise.
  - vog 13y ago
    To my understanding, the meaning of "script kiddie" hasn't changed much over time. It still means: Someone who breaks into computers by merely executing the scripts and hacking tools written by others, without any coding on their own, and without any deep knowledge about that attack. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Script_kiddie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Script_kiddie
    - luckydude 13y ago
      OK, so I was wrong. Not sure what to call the person who did the backdoor then (nor why it is a big deal). But whatever, I used the wrong term, sorry.
      - 69_years_and 13y ago
        Anyway luckydue - good spotting in finding it those years ago and thanks for all your effort. As a linux user, I appreciate the effort all the linux hackers make.
        luckydude 13y ago
        The Linux kernel guys are an impressive bunch. I've helped but I'm not in their league. I did BitKeeper to help Linus. He's a great programmer, architect, and manager, and in ~25 years in the industry I've never met another guy with his skill set. In spite of all the shit I've taken for the choices I have made, I'd do it all over again to help Linus. That guy is unique. I know you guys like him but I think few people really realize how unique he is. He's a big deal, I am not.

lawnchair_larry 13y ago

Although you might feel motivated to deride the attacker, I think it's safe to say that this person was skilled beyond "script kiddy".

luckydude 13y ago
I'm old so maybe the meaning of "script kiddy" has evolved, but back in the day my understanding is that term applied to people who did this sort of thing. Maybe I misunderstand the term, hacking into machines is certainly not my area of expertise.
- vog 13y ago
  To my understanding, the meaning of "script kiddie" hasn't changed much over time. It still means: Someone who breaks into computers by merely executing the scripts and hacking tools written by others, without any coding on their own, and without any deep knowledge about that attack. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Script_kiddie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Script_kiddie
  - luckydude 13y ago
    OK, so I was wrong. Not sure what to call the person who did the backdoor then (nor why it is a big deal). But whatever, I used the wrong term, sorry.
    - 69_years_and 13y ago
      Anyway luckydue - good spotting in finding it those years ago and thanks for all your effort. As a linux user, I appreciate the effort all the linux hackers make.
      - luckydude 13y ago
        The Linux kernel guys are an impressive bunch. I've helped but I'm not in their league. I did BitKeeper to help Linus. He's a great programmer, architect, and manager, and in ~25 years in the industry I've never met another guy with his skill set. In spite of all the shit I've taken for the choices I have made, I'd do it all over again to help Linus. That guy is unique. I know you guys like him but I think few people really realize how unique he is. He's a big deal, I am not.