Posted on 01/10/2004 12:20:46 PM PST by Bush2000
Flaws raise red flag on Linux security
But many users remain confident about the security of the open-source environment
Story by Jaikumar Vijayan
JANUARY 09, 2004 ( COMPUTERWORLD ) - A report earlier this week about a critical flaw in the Linux kernel was the latest in a series of recently discovered security problems with the popular open-source operating system. But many users were unfazed by the report and said Linux remains a solid and secure environment for running enterprise applications.
Poland-based iSec Security Research on Monday said it had found a critical flaw in a function used to manage virtual memory on Linux systems (see story). The flaw affects the 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 versions of the Linux kernel, according to iSec.
The vulnerability could allow attackers to take administrative control of compromised systems and run attack code of their choice, an iSec advisory stated. ISec claimed that it had developed and successfully tested code that was capable of exploiting the flaw, although it added that actually launching such an attack wouldn't be easy.
The news follows the discovery of a similar flaw in the Linux 2.4 kernel last fall. In November, unknown attackers used that flaw to take down several servers belonging to the Debian Project, which produces a noncommercial Linux distribution. And last month, an attack on the Gentoo Linux Project compromised a server that was being used to download copies of Gentoo's Linux source code by users.
The rise in such incidents can be attributed to Linux's growing popularity, which makes it a more attractive target for malicious attackers, said David Wreski, CEO of Linux security vendor Guardian Digital Inc. in Allendale, N.J.
"The underground hacker community is very interested in Linux as a potential target," he said. "Because of the accessibility of the source code to everyone, it provides an equal opportunity for malicious attackers to find vulnerabilities and ways to exploit them."
Even so, Linux remains a secure environment, said John Cahill, senior network security engineer at Piedmont Natural Gas in Charlotte, N.C.
"I would say it is more secure than Microsoft and other environments because the code is looked over by so many people and it's so widely available that any vulnerabilities can be quickly identified and patched," Cahill said. Piedmont uses Linux for several e-mail-related functions and is considering its use for antispam purposes.
"There's not very much we've needed to do to secure Linux [applications]," said Joe Poole, manager for technical support at Boscov's Department Stores LLC in Reading, Pa. The company runs several virtual Linux servers on its mainframes that are protected by network and internal firewalls. All nonessential services, such as file transfers and Telnet, have been disabled. But there has been no need for the kind of constant patching and maintenance required for Windows, Poole said.
Linux distributors in general are also doing a better job of shipping products that have nonessential services disabled by default, said Paul Schmel, adjunct information security officer at the University of Texas at Dallas.
"The biggest plus that Linux has is that it's designed to allow users to be users and not administrators," Schmel said. "What Linux has that Windows doesn't have is ease of configuration from an administrator's standpoint. Stopping and starting services, configuring services to only respond on certain ports and interfaces is dramatically easier than it is with Windows."
Sorry, I can't help you. I've never done Lindows. I've heard good things though if you you're an average user who wants to transition from Windows without much headache.
You mean like the one you don't have to apply if there's physical security for the system, as is for most server farms? I don't know enough about these particular bugs, do you have to reboot after applying the patches?
Actually, these don't require a reboot. The DLLs can actually be renamed and replaced. The fact that the installer asks you to reboot is really a bug in the installer.
Then it's been a bug for many years, and even Microsoft isn't that bad. The fact is that if you don't reboot you risk DLL Hell, and some things do absolutely require reboots.
You can create Windows users with arbitrarily complex masks of capabilities -- which provides the same functionality
Then from the point of any user except for places where a Windows expert has taken hours to create a new group, it's a flaw.
No, they're using free software and selling services. You apparently only understand the proprietary software model -- there is another viable one. But in the end this is good, as it forces Microsoft to be more competitive, lessening its usual monopolistic attitude and practices.
Bush2000 wrote:Ah, yes. The usual "but-it-isn't-Windows defense. This game is getting a little tired. You guys constantly slam Linux security over things such as Apache, WUFTP, and other applications that aren't part of the Linux kernel, including some really obscure and rarely used applications like ISDN voice response systems and command line MP3 players. And then you have the gall to turn around and say that, because Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, SQL Server, IIS , and countless other Windows OS Components and add-ons and applications distributed by Microsoft that are often distributed as part of the "Windows Operating System" (IE and OE), or as part of a "Plus Pack," or as part of a "solution suite" specifically designed for use with the Windows operating system, that it "isn't Windows". See how this little game works?1
There you go again: Attributing flaws in IIS to Windows. You do realize that IIS is a server-based web server, right? You might as well talk about Apache, if you're going to talk about IIS.
Bush2000, you seem to be the one that wants it both ways here. Your position seem highly hypocritical.
If you want to make apples to apples comparisons, or oranges to oranges comparisons, that's fair. For example, it's fair compare security issues with the Linux Kernel (only) with security issues with the Windows Operating System (only). It's also fair to compare Linux/Apache/MySQL with Windows/IIS/SQL Server, or Linux/Mozilla with Windows/Internet Explore/Outloook Express.
However, you want to compare every patch and security update released by any Linux distributor to only those security patches from Microsoft that deal with the Windows Kernel. That's not a fair comparison. A fair comparison would be every security patch from a Linux distributor compared to every security patch from Microsoft for any Windows related product.
And don't deny that you do this. For example, on another thread Friday, you gave a list of "Linux" security patches from Debian, and the first security patch on your list showing "Linux vulnerabilities" was a patch for a voice response system for ISDN connections, a package which is rarely installed, requires special hardware, and the exploit required a user account on the target machine with sufficient access to write scripts for the system. The exploit allowed such a user on such a system to escalate their privileges and possibly gain root access to the system.
1. This paragraph adapted from http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1053778/posts?page=37#37 by Bush2000
Your ignorance. General Public License: "You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange for a fee."
You can't sell Linux, but you can sell services related to it. This is the basis for the whole business model you can't understand.
Do you count ILoveYou, SQL Slammer and Sobig in those statistics, or do you treat each as one instance?
There are widely available tools which make creating a user with a custom rights mask no more difficult than point and click.
I didn't know that, but I'm not surprised at others making up for Microsoft's laxity. Same with the IIS wrappers we use. We always made our own accounts.
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