[ Thanks to Jeremy
Andrews for this link. ]
“In a post earlier today to the Linux kernel mailing list,
BitMover founder Larry McVoy commented, ‘Somebody has modified the
CVS tree on kernel.bkbits.net directly. Dave looked at the machine
and it looked like someone may have been trying to break in and do
it.’ The modified file was ‘kernel/exit.c’, modified directly on
the CVS mirror of the 2.6-test development kernel tree. The CVS
logs erroneously ‘credited’ kernel hacker David Miller for the
changes.“Examining the two lines of inserted code a little closer, it
became quite apparent that this was a blatent attempt to insert a
back door into the Linux kernel that could have been used to
illegitimately become the ‘root’ superuser on a Linux server.
Andreas Dilger pointed out that had the change gone undetected ‘it
might have taken a good while to find…'”
Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.
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