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What we know about the xz Utils backdoor that almost infected the world (arstechnica.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 56 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Specifically, SSH logins were consuming too many CPU cycles and were generating errors with valgrind, a utility for monitoring computer memory.

Through sheer luck and Freund’s careful eye, he eventually discovered the problems were the result of updates that had been made to xz Utils. On Friday, Freund took to the Open Source Security List to disclose the updates were the result of someone intentionally planting a backdoor in the compression software.

It is lucky that Andres Freund checked and found the issue in valgrind that was maybe intentionally or maybe unintentionally.

https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2024/03/29/4

I'm interested in figuring out what happened and more information on the contributor behind the attack.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

to me: the most chilling thing is that someone involved in the open source ecosystem introduced this vulnerability and, if it was intentional, what else did they do?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

It isn't if it was intentional. It was intentional. Otherwise the exploit chain wouldn't be so convoluted.

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