[GTALUG] Federal agency warns critical Linux vulnerability being actively exploited

[CAREY SCHUG]

question still as a dummy.

I try not to open emails from anybody I don't know, hovering over the "from" if the subject is unexpected.

But sometimes the mail program jumps as I click, and I open something I did not intend to open.  Or a malfeasor might have intercepted an email I sent and crafted a reply from the person I sent it to.....or even have compromised their machine and added code to every email from them.

Could a script in an email exploit this?

I am not panicing, but I am concerned.

<pre>--Carey</pre>

> On 06/04/2024 7:33 AM CDT D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:
> 
>  
> | From: CAREY SCHUG via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
> 
> | Maybe i missed it, but can somebody post the "for dummies" command to 
> | tell if one has the fix installed?
> | 
> | I realize a different command for each package manager, at least: Deb, pacman, rpm, gentoo, others?
> 
> DON'T PANIC.  For a Bad Guy to exploit this bug, they need to be able to 
> run code of their choosing on your machine.  I bet you don't let anyone 
> dangerous log in to your machine.  And I bet you don't run random shell 
> scripts from the internet.
> 
> The bug is pretty old so you are unlikely to have a kernel that 
> predates the bug's introduction.  So you need to have a kernel new enough 
> to have the fix.
> 
> Each distro probably released its own announcement some time after late 
> January 2024.  The bug's name is CVE-2024-1086.  Googling that and your 
> disto's name should get you to any announcement.
> 
> Because distros don't want to let the cat out of the bag prematurely, they 
> may be coy in the description of the update.  The Good Guys want to 
> release fixes before alerting Bad Guys of a vulnerability.
> 
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