Discussion summary
OpenBSD has a use-after-free vulnerability that allows local privilege escalation. Discussions include the security of OpenBSD, the potential of Rust in kernel development, and the challenges of rewriting legacy code.
What the discussion says
- OpenBSD's codebase is old but accepted as a trade-off for stability.
- Some believe Rust could prevent such vulnerabilities, but it's not guaranteed.
- OpenBSD's security is not inherently better, just less scrutinized.
- Rewriting legacy code in new languages like Rust is complex and debated.
“OpenBSD has a use-after-free vulnerability allowing privilege escalation.”
“Would Rust have made this issue impossible by construction?”
Comments
Hacker News
Would Rust have made this issue impossible by construction? I know Linus has spoken about Rust's promises about memory safety not being equivalently applicable in the kernel domain, so I would be curious to hear any kernel developer's perspectives.
by poly2it
If this is a local privilege escalation to root, why can't I find anything on https://www.openbsd.org/security.html ?
by jsiepkes
Can anyone find the mailing list thread on this topic (or does it not exist because @security are private mailing list)?
I did find another use-after-free bug from a couple months ago on the mailing list:
by tiffanyh
from the link:
sys/kern/sysv_sem.c in OpenBSD through 7.9 has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root. This is a context switch use-after-free after tsleep in sys_semget().
by gjvc
> Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time!
by uticus
OpenBSD's security stance being the stuff of legend, I'm curious how many vulns have been found over the last couple months while the big model companies are flaunting their ability to find exploits. It'd be super cool to see it remain tiny.
by Arubis
One bug found is a testament to the great diligence and culture around security of OpenBSD. Especially if you take into account the amount of resources they have been able to achieve this with.
by trashb
Seems to be found as a part of Patch The Planet [0] which is basically OpenAI giving model access and Trail of Bits using them to find vulnerabilities in OSS projects.
by Tiberium
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- Hacker News
- Would Rust have made this issue impossible by construction? I know Linus has spoken about Rust's promises about memory safety not being equivalently applicable in the kernel domain, so I would be curious to hear any kernel developer's perspectives.by poly2it
- If this is a local privilege escalation to root, why can't I find anything on https://www.openbsd.org/security.html ?by jsiepkes
- Can anyone find the mailing list thread on this topic (or does it not exist because @security are private mailing list)?
I did find another use-after-free bug from a couple months ago on the mailing list:
by tiffanyh - from the link:
sys/kern/sysv_sem.c in OpenBSD through 7.9 has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root. This is a context switch use-after-free after tsleep in sys_semget().
by gjvc - > Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time!by uticus
- OpenBSD's security stance being the stuff of legend, I'm curious how many vulns have been found over the last couple months while the big model companies are flaunting their ability to find exploits. It'd be super cool to see it remain tiny.by Arubis
- One bug found is a testament to the great diligence and culture around security of OpenBSD. Especially if you take into account the amount of resources they have been able to achieve this with.by trashb
- Seems to be found as a part of Patch The Planet [0] which is basically OpenAI giving model access and Trail of Bits using them to find vulnerabilities in OSS projects.by Tiberium