The Linux Thing

It is worth looking at what is required to actually exploit this
vulnerability. The conditions a

An attacker must have physical access to the system's console to be
able to type the famous backspaces. In general, once an attacker can
actually put hands onto a target system, the game is already lost. That
is no excuse for a trivially exploited vulnerability in the bootloader's
authentication code, but it does add a bit of perspective. Note that you
may have physical access to the Linux-based entertainment system in your
airplane seat, but you almost certainly lack access to the console.

The attacker must be able to reach the bootloader's authentication
prompt. That generally means being able to force a running Linux system
to reboot so that the bootloader actually runs. If the system is
configured to allow unprivileged users to cause a reboot, then
complaints of "denial of service" are already moot; service can be
denied at any time. Of course, that can also be done by pulling the plug
since, as has already been noted, the attacker has physical access to
the system.

The system must be running the GRUB2 bootloader. If it's an x86
system, chances are that it is indeed GRUB2 that is installed there.
Other architectures tend to use other bootloaders, though. Many of the
embedded systems that might be most at risk from this type of
vulnerability will thus not be running the vulnerable software.

The bootloader must actually be configured for password-based
access. While lacking hard data, your editor would guess that a small
minority of systems booting with GRUB2 have passwords set on them. In
most cases, simply rebooting allows full access to the bootloader and
its capabilities — no exploit required.

The system must be running an exploitable version of GRUB2. This
part is relatively easy — the vulnerability has been present since
version 1.98, released in late 2009.

Given the above, it seems unlikely that this vulnerability has exposed
"any Linux system" to attack. Instead, it has exposed a small number of
systems that are configured with bootloader security, but that also
allow physical access to a console keyboard. For some of those systems,
this vulnerability constitutes a true emergency. For most of us, though,
there is no particular need to go into red alert.

On 21/12/2015 23:19, Cy Burnot wrote:
It is worth looking at what is required to actually exploit this
vulnerability. The conditions a

rubbish snipped

What the **** has this got to do with Windows 10? Do you guys really
suffer from Windows 10 Withdrawal symptoms? If so then go and buy a new
low spec machine from DELL and you will have your own copy of Windows 10
pre-installed.

Go and **** yourself if this is not what you came here to read.





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