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Fwd: [NZLUG] Major Ubuntu Linux Vulnerability - all current versions
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

Apologies, if you've already received this. Cheers, Peter ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Mark Foster Date: Wed, Jun 17, 2015 at 11:28 AM Subject: [NZLUG] Major Ubuntu Linux Vulnerability - all current versions To: NZ Linux Users Group <nzlug(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz>, aucklug(a)googlegroups.com, Wellington Linux Users Group <wellylug(a)lists.wellylug.org.nz> http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2015/q2/717 ... "allows a local root privilege escalation in the default configuration on all currently supported versions of Ubuntu. The overlayfs filesystem does not correctly check file permissions when creating new files in the upper filesystem directory. This can be exploited by an unprivileged process in kernels with CONFIG_USER_NS=y and where overlayfs has the FS_USERNS_MOUNT flag, which allows the mounting of overlayfs inside unprivileged mount namespaces. This is the default configuration of Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, 14.10, and 15.04 [1]." This could be something requiring a bit of attention. Heads-up. There is a simple work-round if you're not using overlayfs, detailed at the above url. Mark. PS: Apol's for the cross-post. _______________________________________________ NZLUG mailing list NZLUG(a)lists.nzoss.org.nz http://lists.nzoss.org.nz/mailman/listinfo/nzlug -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linus Torvalds Says Linux Can Move On Without Him
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

'In a typically blunt interview, Linus Torvalds has said for the first time that if he were to die, Linux could safely continue on its own. Bloomberg has the report, which includes a video with Torvalds at his home office. Torvalds insists that people like Greg Kroah-Hartman have taken over huge parts of the day-to-day work maintaining Linux and that they've built up enough trust to be respected. This all comes as Torvalds has been irking more and more people with his aggressive attitude.' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/06/16/1630252 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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TRIM and Linux: Tread Cautiously, and Keep Backups Handy
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

'Algolia is a buzzword-compliant ("Hosted Search API that delivers instant and relevant results") start-up that uses a lot of open-source software (including various strains of Linux) and a lot of solid-state disk, and as such sometimes runs into problems with each of these. Their blog this week features a fascinating look at troubles that they faced with ext4 filesystems mysteriously flipping to read-only mode: not such a good thing for machines processing a search index, not just dishing it out. "The NGINX daemon serving all the HTTP(S) communication of our API was up and ready to serve the search queries but the indexing process crashed. Since the indexing process is guarded by supervise, crashing in a loop would have been understandable but a complete crash was not. As it turned out the filesystem was in a read-only mode. All right, let's assume it was a cosmic ray :) The filesystem got fixed, files were restored from another healthy server and everything looked fine again. The next day another server ended with filesystem in read-only, two hours after another one and then next hour another one. Something was going on. After restoring the filesystem and the files, it was time for serious analysis since this was not a one time thing. The rest of the story explains how they isolated the problem and worked around it; it turns out that the culprit was TRIM, or rather TRIM's interaction with certain SSDs: "The system was issuing a TRIM to erase empty blocks, the command got misinterpreted by the drive and the controller erased blocks it was not supposed to. Therefore our files ended-up with 512 bytes of zeroes, files smaller than 512 bytes were completely zeroed. When we were lucky enough, the misbehaving TRIM hit the super-block of the filesystem and caused a corruption." Since SSDs are becoming the norm outside the data center as well as within, some of the problems that their analysis exposed for one company probably would be good to test for elsewhere. One upshot: "As a result, we informed our server provider about the affected SSDs and they informed the manufacturer. Our new deployments were switched to different SSD drives and we don't recommend anyone to use any SSD that is anyhow mentioned in a bad way by the Linux kernel."' -- source: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/15/06/16/201217 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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meeting next Monday
by Peter Reutemann 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

Hi everyone We have a WLUG meeting coming up next Monday. Please note, that this is a social event taken place at The Cook and *not* at university as usual (the room wasn't available due to exams)! Details can be found here: http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/222855181/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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computer lab Te Whare O Te Ata
by Bill Rosoman 16 Jun '15

16 Jun '15

fyi I have been working many voluntary hours at Te Whare with mike for several months restoring, improving, documenting, training and assisting Mike to get things back to normal with the computers and the websites. So a lot of documentation has been happening. I do not think it is a good idea to see Mike and try and reopen the lab at this time after such an horrific experience they have been thru. They need time to see what the future holds for them. Bill Rosoman

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Re: [wlug] The Fate Of The Fairfield Lab
by William Mckee 15 Jun '15

15 Jun '15

I have the time and knowledge to open the lab. I've emailed Mike regarding this but recieved no reply. Rod has expressed interest in help running also. I'm willing to open the lab twice a week from 9-12. With more people I would love to open it from 2:30 till 5pm for primary and intermediate. It's a great resource and it makes me sad to see it closed. Cheers, William Cheers, On 15/06/2015 11:56 AM, "Lawrence D'Oliveiro" <ldo(a)geek-central.gen.nz> wrote: > To bring up a (not entirely) unrelated subject, I was at Te Whare O Te > Ata last week, and I asked Mike Rarere what was going to happen to the > computer lab. > > It’s clear Bruce Kingsbury was instrumental in getting this lab set up > and running, and it was providing a useful service to the community. > All of which was shot completely to hell as a result of his criminality > and stupidity. > > I understood from Mike that, without somebody willing to provide > full-time support for free, as Bruce was, the lab cannot continue. This > seems a shame, but is there anything else we can do? Fundraise to pay > someone to provide support, even if only part-time? > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list | wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Unsubscribe: http://list.waikato.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/wlug >

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Ubuntu-Based REMnux 6.0 Linux Distro for Malware Analysis Officially Released
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jun '15

09 Jun '15

"The hard working developers behind the REMnux Linux distribution, an Ubuntu derivative that promises a lightweight solution for assisting malware analysis with reverse-engineering malicious software, announced the release of REMnux 6.0." -- source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-Based-REMnux-6-0-Linux-Distro-for-Mal… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Microsoft To Support SSH In Windows and Contribute To OpenSSH
by Peter Reutemann 03 Jun '15

03 Jun '15

'Microsoft has announced plans for native support for SSH in Windows. "A popular request the PowerShell team has received is to use Secure Shell protocol and Shell session (aka SSH) to interoperate between Windows and Linux – both Linux connecting to and managing Windows via SSH and, vice versa, Windows connecting to and managing Linux via SSH. Thus, the combination of PowerShell and SSH will deliver a robust and secure solution to automate and to remotely manage Linux and Windows systems." Based on the work from this new direction, they also plan to contribute back to the OpenSSH project as well.' -- source: http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/06/02/1950234 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Broadcom worth 37 billion
by Ian Young 02 Jun '15

02 Jun '15

A company called Avago has paid 37 billion for Broadcom, makers of the system on a chip in the Raspberry Pi. http://www.cnet.com/news/chipmakers-avago-broadcom-join-forces-in-37b-megam… http://www.theplatform.net/2015/05/28/avago-broadcom-to-take-on-intel-in-th… Some interesting analysis http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/31/why-is-avago-technologies-…

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Indonesia Uses Linux, openSUSE for Pilot Project
by Peter Reutemann 27 May '15

27 May '15

"An estimated 45,000 students from a province in Indonesia have enhanced their education and computer-usage knowledge through a pilot program using Linux and openSUSEthat is expected to become a nationwide educational program. >From 2009 to 2014, the project called “Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Utilization for Educational Quality Enhancement in Yogyakarta Province” used openSUSE and created material with Linux to enhance educational quality and equality inYogyakarta Province schools." -- source: http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/832417 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Waikato, NZ http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ Ph. +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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