An open-source security audit program funded by the US Department of Homeland Security has flagged a critical vulnerability in the X Window System which is used in Unix and Linux systems. Coverity, the San Franciso-based company managing the project under a $1.25 million grant, described the flaw as the "biggest security vulnerability" found in the X Window System code since 2000.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Fixing the hole is one thing. Updating all those millions of installations of vulnerable X out there is another.
As for OS X ... last time I checked, they weren't running X11. By reading the latest news, though, you'd think that if you're running OS X, hackers will steal your house and first-born baby.
Member since:2006-04-21
Member since:2005-08-12
"Fixing the hole is one thing. Updating all those millions of installations of vulnerable X out there is another."
One of the reasons people should just give up and use a "real" distribution if they're going to use *nix as a desktop OS.
I can't speak for others, but I had a nice little clean alert come from my notification area telling me updates were available. A couple were for X so I highlighted them and read change logs, clicked update, and was finished.
I'd imagine even Fedora would have such a nice system.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2006-04-21
Member since:2005-06-30
Member since:2005-06-29
It is fixed. The offending lines were because they used geteuid as a pointer and not a function.
It looked like, but wasn't exactly:
if (geteuid)
...
Where it should be
if (geteuid())
...
C lets you do this, but it's very rare that you'd want to so security scanners look for it.
Of course, the check is if you're root (id 0, or false in c) so you can see how it's a priv escalation.
I'm not sure, but I think it only works if the X11 server is running as root. It is possible for it not to be, as OS X runs it when it runs it. And some do it on Linux and BSD as well.
Member since:2006-02-26
I think I read somewhere that this had already been fixed
You did read it somewhere: the article itself, where they say that it was fixed within one week of being reported.
The other poster (Tom K) might well have thought that the OS X comment implied you thought OS X uses X11 not Quartz. Of course OS X do ship an X server on their install DVD and for those of us who have it installed it will be interesting to see how long it takes for their software update to install a patched/fixed version.
Edited 2006-05-03 22:09
Member since:
2006-04-21
I think I read somewhere that this had already been fixed, thus (if true) neatly illustrating the gaping gulf between the approaches to security taken by Linux and Windows (OS) developers.
How does OS X compare for speed of fix?