The Linux kernel exposes a wealth of information through the proc special filesystem. It's not hard to find an encyclopedic reference about proc. In this...
The Linux kernel exposes a wealth of information through the proc special filesystem. It's not hard to find an encyclopedic reference about proc. In this article I'll take a different approach: we'll see how proc tricks can solve a number of real-world problems. All of these tricks should work on a recent Linux kernel, though some will fail on older systems like RHEL version 4. Almost all Linux systems will have the proc filesystem mounted at /proc. If you look inside this...
The Linux kernel exposes a wealth of information through the proc special filesystem. It's not hard to find an encyclopedic reference about proc. In this article I'll take a different approach:...
Have you ever had a machine get compromised? What did you do? Did you run rootkit checkers and reboot? Did you restore from backups or wipe and reinstall the...
Have you ever had a machine get compromised? What did you do? Did you run rootkit checkers and reboot? Did you restore from backups or wipe and reinstall the machines, to remove any potential backdoors? In some cases, that may not be enough. In this blog post, we're going to describe how we can gain full control of someone's machine by giving them a piece of hardware which they install into their computer. The backdoor won't leave any trace on the disk, so it won't be...
Have you ever had a machine get compromised? What did you do? Did you run rootkit checkers and reboot? Did you restore from backups or wipe and reinstall the machines, to remove any...
Ever wondered what a .deb file actually is? How is it put together, and what's inside it, besides the data that is installed to your system when you install the...
Ever wondered what a .deb file actually is? How is it put together, and what's inside it, besides the data that is installed to your system when you install the package? Today we're going to break out our sysadmin's toolbox and find out. (While we could just turn to deb(5), that would ruin the fun.) You'll need a Debian-based system to play along. Ubuntu and other derivatives should work just fine. Finding a file to look at Whenever APT downloads a package to install, it...
Ever wondered what a .deb file actually is? How is it put together, and what's inside it, besides the data that is installed to your system when you install the package? Today we're going to break...
Let's talk about how to hijack HTTP traffic on your home subnet using ARP and iptables. It's an easy and fun way to harass your friends, family, or flatmates...
Let's talk about how to hijack HTTP traffic on your home subnet using ARP and iptables. It's an easy and fun way to harass your friends, family, or flatmates while exploring the networking protocols. Please don't experiment with this outside of a subnet under your control -- it's against the law and it might be hard to get things back to their normal state. The setup Significant other comes home from work. SO pulls out laptop and tries to catch up on social media like every...
Let's talk about how to hijack HTTP traffic on your home subnet using ARP and iptables. It's an easy and fun way to harass your friends, family, or flatmates while exploring the networking protocols....
It has been an exciting week for most people running 64-bit Linux systems. Shortly after "Ac1dB1tch3z" released his or her exploit of the vulnerability known as...
It has been an exciting week for most people running 64-bit Linux systems. Shortly after "Ac1dB1tch3z" released his or her exploit of the vulnerability known as CVE-2010-3081, we saw this exploit aggressively compromising machines, with reports of compromises all over the hosting industry and many machines using our diagnostic tool and testing positive for the backdoors left by the exploit. The talk around the exploit has mostly been panic and mitigation, though, so now that...
It has been an exciting week for most people running 64-bit Linux systems. Shortly after "Ac1dB1tch3z" released his or her exploit of the vulnerability known as CVE-2010-3081, we saw this...
Hi. I'm the original developer of Ksplice and the CEO of the company. Today is one of those days that reminds me why I created Ksplice. I'm writing this blog...
Hi. I'm the original developer of Ksplice and the CEO of the company. Today is one of those days that reminds me why I created Ksplice. I'm writing this blog post to provide some information and assistance to anyone affected by the recent Linux kernel vulnerability CVE-2010-3081, which unfortunately is just about everyone running 64-bit Linux. To make matters worse, in the last day we've received many reports of people attacking production systems using an exploit for this...
Hi. I'm the original developer of Ksplice and the CEO of the company. Today is one of those days that reminds me why I created Ksplice. I'm writing this blog post to provide some information...
There are few things I am less happy to see when trying to get some work done than something like: $ python >>> import pycurl Fatal Python error: pycurl:...
There are few things I am less happy to see when trying to get some work done than something like: $ python >>> import pycurl Fatal Python error: pycurl: libcurl link-time version is older than compile-time version Aborted "link-time" + "compile-time" + one library using another and something is broken = some kind of shared library problem. Debugging shared library problems = Nooooo I just wanted to write some code.* But I don't have anyone to pawn this off on, and this isn't...
There are few things I am less happy to see when trying to get some work done than something like: $ python >>> import pycurl Fatal Python error: pycurl: libcurl link-time version is older...
In response to many requests, Ksplice is proud to announce we're now providing Uptrack free of charge for Fedora! Fedora will join Ubuntu Desktop among our free...
In response to many requests, Ksplice is proud to announce we're now providing Uptrack free of charge for Fedora! Fedora will join Ubuntu Desktop among our free platforms, and will give Fedora users rebootless updates as long as Fedora maintains each major kernel release. However, of note: Fedora is the only Linux distribution that migrates to a new Linux kernel version family (e.g. 2.6.33 to 2.6.34) during the lifetime of the product. This kernel version family migration is...
In response to many requests, Ksplice is proud to announce we're now providing Uptrack free of charge for Fedora! Fedora will join Ubuntu Desktop among our free platforms, and will give Fedora...
In 2002, I got my first cell phone. June was stuffy in Manhattan, and my summer internship copy-editing the New York Sun, the now-defunct right-wing newspaper,...
In 2002, I got my first cell phone. June was stuffy in Manhattan, and my summer internship copy-editing the New York Sun, the now-defunct right-wing newspaper, was just about to start. I swam through the humid air past Madison Square Park to get to the store before closing. "You want this one," said the salesman at the RadioShack, pointing to a sleek model then on sale. "It's a 3G phone. It'll work with Sprint's new 3G network they're rolling out later this summer." "Ok," I...
In 2002, I got my first cell phone. June was stuffy in Manhattan, and my summer internship copy-editing the New York Sun, the now-defunct right-wing newspaper, was just about to start. I swam through...
