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Short Bytes: After the usual development process involving seven release candidates, Linus Torvalds has released Linux kernel 4.12. Regarding commits, probably, it’s the second biggest kernel release. The most significant feature of kernel 4.12 is the support for new AMD Vega graphics processors. You can go ahead and download the Linux kernel 4.12 tarball from […]
Lately I’ve been spending some time fuzzing network-related Linux kernel interfaces with syzkaller. Besides the recently discovered vulnerability in DCCP sockets, I also found another one, this time in packet sockets. This post describes how the bug was discovered and how we can exploit it to escalate privileges. The bug itself (CVE-2017-7308) is a signedness […]
Short Bytes: Linux creator Linus Torvalds has officially released Linux kernel 4.11. After eight release candidates, kernel 4.11, codenamed Fearless Coyote, comes with numerous new features and fixes. The major Linux Kernel 4.11 features are scalable SSD swapping, SMC-R support, AMDGPU power management improvement, Turbo Max 3.0 improvements, new perf ftrace tool, etc. After taking an extra […]
The Linux team has patched a “dangerous” vulnerability in the Linux kernel that allowed attackers to elevate their access rights and crash affected systems. The security issue, tracked as CVE-2017-2636, existed in the Linux kernel for the past seven years, after being introduced in the code in 2009. This is the fourth “years-old” security flaw […]
Short Bytes: Looking for an easy to install or upgrade Linux kernel in Ubuntu or Mint distributions? With the help of Ukuu utility, you can complete this task easily. Simply run a couple of commands in the command line to install Ukuu and launch the utility. After selecting the desired kernel, hit the install button […]
Short Bytes: The developers of BlackArch ethical hacking distro have released the new ISO images of their operating system. BlackArch Linux 2017-03-01 is now available with 50 new hacking tools, Linux kernel 4.9.11, and updated packages. The users can visit the BlackArch website and download the latest ISO images. There are many categories of Linux distributions. Just […]
Security expert discovered a new 11-year old privilege escalation vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2017-6074, in the Linux kernel. A new privilege escalation vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2017-6074, has been discovered in the Linux kernel and the astonishing new is that it is an 11-year old flaw. The local privilege-escalation vulnerability, discovered by security researcher Andrey Konovalov, affects all the major […]
Short Bytes: Linus Torvalds has finally released Linux kernel 4.10. The latest release is a result of seven weeks of hard work and 13,000 commits. Kernel 4.10 features improvements to AMDGPU DRM and Nvidia DRM driver, better hardware support, initial Intel Graphics Virtualization Technology support, etc. You can go ahead and grab kernel 4.10 from kernel.org. Well, […]
Short Bytes: Linux kernel 4.10’s release is just around the corner. This release comes loaded with many new features and better hardware support for Nouveau driver, Intel GTV, AMD Zen, Intel Turbo Boost Max, new ARM devices, etc. The other new features of Linux kernel 4.10 include writeback throttling, fast fail support, and faster WLAN […]
Attackers with physical access are able to attack the firmware on many fully patched computers with DMA – Direct Memory Access. Once code execution is gained in UEFI/EFI Runtime Services it is possible to use this foothold to take control of a running Linux system. The Linux 4.8 kernel fully randomizes the physical memory location […]
Short Bytes: Linux kernel 4.9 was released on December 11, and it brought along numerous hardware improvements. The Ubuntu and Linux Mint users can download the .deb packages, install them using Terminal, and enjoy using Linux kernel 4.9 in no time. Tarlier this month, Linux boss Linus Torvalds unleashed Linux kernel 4.9. It was hailed […]
Short Bytes: Linus Torvalds has released Linux kernel 4.9. It’s the biggest ever Linux version in terms of commits. A lot of bulk in this release comes due to AMD GPU register definition files and Project Ara’s “greybus.” Torvalds has also announced that Linux kernel 4.10 merge window will be shorter due to Christmas weekend. Update: […]
Short Bytes: The Linux kernel is the most used piece of software in the history of computing. It’s everywhere. It’s in computers, servers, phones, TVs, set-top boxes, submarines, airplanes, self-driving cars, and it even runs the International Space Station. But how does it work? That’s more than a mouthful, so I’ll try to break it up […]
It’s time to patch your Linux servers and PCs again. The good news is developers are looking very closely at Linux’s core code for possible security holes. The bad news is they’re finding them. At least the best news is that they’re fixing them as soon as they’re uncovered. The latest three kernel vulnerabilities are […]
Short Bytes: Do you know the exact Linux kernel and distro release version of your Linux system? While you can find the kernel version using the uname -r command on all systems, distro version command varies from distribution to distribution. However, most of them display this info using /etc/osname-release. If you’re an avid Linux-based operating system […]
Short Bytes: The next Linux kernel release, i.e., Linux 4.9, could be the biggest ever Linux release in terms of the commits. Linus Torvalds shared this news in the release announcement of Linux 4.9-rc2. He also hinted at the possibility of turning 4.9 into an LTS release. The final build of the kernel is expected […]
Short Bytes: The Canonical Livepatch service allows installation of security fixes for Linux kernel on Ubuntu without the need of rebooting the machine. The free live patching service can be enabled on up to 3 machines using a token issued by Canonical. This article covers the steps using which you can enable the Livepatch service […]
Short Bytes: A serious nine-year-old bug in Linux kernel has been recently revealed. Named Dirty COW, this flaw can help an attacker to gain write access to read-only memory. Linux kernel maintainers have released the patch and users are advised to install it as soon as possible. Open source software leader Red Hat has told the world […]
Short Bytes: Linux creator Linus Torvalds has shared the news that we are half-way between Linux 4.0 and 5.0 as the Git object database has crossed the 5 million object mark. Some of you might be knowing that major version transition happens at every two million objects in the database. So, after 1 more million […]
Donald Austin is the main suspect behind the kernel.org security breach that took place in the summer of 2011.Donald Ryan Austin, 27, of El Portal, Florida, was charged yesterday with hacking servers belonging to the Linux Kernel Organization (kernel.org). According to a four-count indictment, Austin gained access to server credentials used by an individual associated […]
Short Bytes: Canonical has released a new update for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS operating system, its official flavors, and derivates. This update covers fixes for 8 vulnerabilities found in the Linux kernel. For a secure computing experience, users are advised to update their Linux machines as soon as possible. Earlier in July, Canonical released Ubuntu 16.04.1, the […]