How does the xz incident impacts the average user ? #xz
How does the xz incident impacts the average user ? #xz
My mastodon feed is full of IT security specialist talking about the xz affair where someone let a backdoor in some library.
But beside showing the two side of Free/Libre software (anybody can add a backdoor, and anybody can spot it), I have no idea how it impacts the average person. Is it a common library or something used only by specific application ? Would my home-grade router protects me ?
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How does the xz incident impacts the average user ?
It doesn't.
Average person:
- not running Debian sid, Fedora nightly,
Arch, OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, or tbh any flavour of Linux. (Arch reportedly unafffected) - ssh service not exposed publicly
The malicious code was discovered within
a day or twoa month of upload iirc and presumably very few people were affected by this. There's more to it but it's technical and not directly relevant to your question.For the average person it has no practical impact. For those involved with or interested in software supply chain security, it's a big deal.
Edit:
Corrections:- OpenSUSE Tumbleweed was affected; Arch received malicious package but due to how it is implemented did not result in compromised SSH service.
- Affected package was out in the wild for about a month, suggesting many more affected systems before malicious package was discovered and rolled back.
Not just a day, a full month the backdoor was available. On the Arch Repo, v5.6.0 was uploaded on February 24th. Will be similar to other repos.
I believe 5.6.0 was in Debian testing for almost a month too.
Thanks for the correction. A full month is much more problematic.
I don't even understand what anyone in this thread is saying.
That's not an invitation, please don't explain Linux to me.
I'm just saying this means nothing for average people.
It could have meant a lot to the average person if it wasn’t caught. If this was some adversary, they could have used it to cripple critical infrastructure in the largest cyber attack in history.
Luckily it was caught before this software was rolled out to really anything that should be in prod.
Can I explain GUN/Linux to you?
Isn't that this Windows imitation I sometimes hear about?
(I have a death wish I guess)
But on a serious side: I need an easy to use Linux system next year for my parents who are not very tech savvy. Do you have a recommendation for easy use that feels like Windows? It will only be used for browsing, open office and stuff.
You can to me. I don't know what gnu is but I know that Linux is a penguin branch of os
No.
It actually means a lot for average people. Only because you are not able to comprehend some things, does not mean you are not affected by it. But feel free to keep on using Windows XP.
You forgot about OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, it also shipped the infected package. I had to update to a newer non-infected version of xz.
Thanks, SUSE completely slipped my mind
What about vpn behind WireGuard/OpenVPV?
I would presume no?
- not running Debian sid, Fedora nightly,