Re: Ptrace hole / Linux 2.2.25

Florian Weimer
2003-03-23T21:35:55Z

Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> writes:

> On Sun, 2003-03-23 at 20:33, Florian Weimer wrote:
>> Well, this is a problem which will be fixed over time. Amorphous
>> distributions such as Debian will no longer be notified first, and
>
> Why would anyone do that.

Read the IIS rationale for not contacting Apache.

For a different perspective, ask some folks who are involved in the
current IIS issue. There are many reasons nowadays to restrict
information to non-citizens.

I'm not saying that this is reasonable, but there will always be
people unable to make a rational, informed decision, and if things get
irrational, those without the big pockets tend to lose.

Anyway, the current way security issues are handled will last a year,
maybe two. I'm not sure in which direction it will evolve, either far
more anarchistic (unlikely), or completely regulated (very likely, I
smell a lot of money down that road).

> Debian is a bunch of amateurs true, but they happen to be a bunch of
> extremely professional amateurs when it comes to security.

I'm not in a position to judge this because the process is too closed.
But in general, they seem to do a good job, I agree.

> If you get it wrong stuff leaks, take a look at the latest CERT fiasco

I don't think things were different if the issues were revealed in a
coordinated manner in June or July. You can't really fix it anyway
and my Kerberos guru tells me that the community has known for ages
that Kerberos 4 was broken at the protocol level. Nobody was bothered
enough to write it down, though.

And CERT/CC deliberately leaks stuff to unrelated parties, you know.
This time, you just don't have to pay for it.