Nexenta... how I loath thee.

[Zacariaz]

Debian rules!
I actually don't think I have ever crashed my Debian distribution, of course I rarely use it, but when I do you can be certain that I'm messing around with things that I shouldn't.

[Wave]

I just crashed my linux pc by running what was supposed to be a local root exploit. It worked (linux security=overrated), but it obviously did something to the kernel, because suddenly everything hung.

[Alboin]

I just crashed my linux pc by running what was supposed to be a local root exploit. It worked (linux security=overrated), but it obviously did something to the kernel, because suddenly everything hung.

How're those viruses for Linux goin'? Keyloggers? Spyware? Is the man spying on you through your PC? Yeah, thought so.

All OS's are insecure, it's just that Linux is more secure than a lot of them.

[01000101]

I've said this before, and I'll say it again.

I think all mainstream OS's have their exploitable flaws. Linux is no exception, but because Windows is far more mainstream, it gets attacked more. When a hacker chooses its target, it looks to the biggest market share to attack, thus so many exploits become known. No evil hacker would start writing a major virus for an OS that will only branch to a few thousand people maybe.

Although, on the flipside, it is extremely awkward that so many exploits are written IN the linux environment and then executed in a windows environment? is that supposed to be more 1337 or something? why not just make your C virus on Windows and execute it in Windows?

[Brynet-Inc]

Although, on the flipside, it is extremely awkward that so many exploits are written IN the linux environment and then executed in a windows environment? is that supposed to be more 1337 or something? why not just make your C virus on Windows and execute it in Windows?

Maybe because they don't use it? perhaps they find amusement in annoying Windows users.

I just crashed my linux pc by running what was supposed to be a local root exploit. It worked (linux security=overrated), but it obviously did something to the kernel, because suddenly everything hung.

Then why the hell did you login as root and run it? It's not an OS's job to prevent you from being stupid.

[01000101]

I just crashed my linux pc by running what was supposed to be a local root exploit. It worked (linux security=overrated), but it obviously did something to the kernel, because suddenly everything hung.

Then why the hell did you login as root and run it? It's not an OS's job to prevent you from being stupid.

lmao. that's a good point.
like my hoodie says, there's no patch for human stupidity.

[Solar]

I think he said he was running a root exploit, i.e. an exploit that gives the average user root privileges. You don't have to be root to run them, to the contrary...

Of course no OS can ever be completely secure. Design glitches set aside, there is always the "human factor" that results in a security hole somewhere.

Linux is more "secure" because there are so many different flavours out there, fragmenting the target area. Most worms and viruses today are distributed in hopes to get a big bad bot net installed for sending spam or DDoS'ing servers. Little sense in hacking the security hole in libxyz.so run in about 5% of all Linux boxes if you can hack that faulty lsass.dll still run by 80% of all Windows boxes... and Linux machines are usually run by tech-savy people not as easily fooled as the average Windows user.

That being said, I did set up a hardened Linux for a friend once. It gives you the creeps to see what can be done to improve security beyond the average Linux, because only then you realize how woefully unprotected that average Linux (and, by implication, Windows) really is.

(Google hints: grsecurity, PAX, SELinux, RBAC, ...)

[Brynet-Inc]

I think he said he was running a root exploit, i.e. an exploit that gives the average user root privileges. You don't have to be root to run them, to the contrary...

Purely a misinterpretation.. but it's still a local error, it just common sense - don't create accounts for people you don't trust.

To be fair, I use OpenBSD which hasn't had a single root shell exploit in years, but several security features are in place though...

http://openbsd.org/security.html#newtech

1) A stack protector.. (ProPolice - Enabled by default.)..
2) strlcpy/strlcat functions used in kernel/userland.
3) Randomized memory allocations, malloc/memap.
4) Privilege Separation.. ntpd runs under the _ntpd account for instance.
5) Very few setuid root binaries, existing ones being replace when possible.
6) W^X