Linux

48334 readers

623 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

511

backdoor in upstream xz/liblzma leading to ssh server compromise (www.openwall.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

98 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] -3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Backdoor only gets inserted when building RPM or DEB. So while updating frequently is a good idea, it won't change anything for Arch users today.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Archlinux's XZ was compromised as well.

News post

Git change for not using tarballs from source

[–] [email protected] 13 points 7 months ago

No, read the link you posted:

Arch does not directly link openssh to liblzma, and thus this attack vector is not possible. You can confirm this by issuing the following command:
ldd "$(command -v sshd)"
However, out of an abundance of caution, we advise users to remove the malicious code from their system by upgrading either way.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think that was a precaution. The malicious build script ran during the build, but the backdoor itself was most likely not included in the resuling package as it checked for specific packaging systems.

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/29/22

[+] [email protected] 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

Those getting the most recent software versions, so nothing that should be running in a server.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Fedora 41, Fedora Rawhide, Debian Sid are the currently known affected ones AFAIK.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

I think it needs to be

rolling release (because it was caught so quickly that it hasn't made its way into any cadence based distro yet)
using the upstream Makefile task to build a RPM or DEB (because the compromised build script directly checks for that and therefore doesn't trigger for a destdir build like Gentoo’s or Arch’s)
using the upstream provided tarball as opposed to the one GitHub provides, or a git clone (because only that contains the compromised Makefile, running autotools yourself is safe)

Points 1 and 2 mean that only rolling release RPM and DEB distros like Debian Sid and Fedora are candidates. I didn't check if they use the Makefile and the compromised tarballs.