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Crowdstrike takes out last remaining threat vector (the users)
(infosec.exchange)
The machines, now inaccessible, are arguably more secure than before.
Zach Vorhies (who made leaking Google stuff to Project Veritas his entire identity) has the worst possible take: https://twitter.com/Perpetualmaniac/status/1814405221738786984 (lemme gather my thoughts and explain why in the next comment)
Fair warning that I'll be ranty because I hate losers talking about DEI hires.
This is a huge assumption. ~~The last rumor I've read from actual cybersecurity people is that Crowdstrike's update files were corrupt~~ (update: disproven by Crowdstrike's blog post). If this is true it's likely still from programmer error at some level, but maybe not as simple as "whoopsie I forgot an
if (data == nullptr)teehee".He, like the rest of us that don't work at Crowdstrike, has no idea what happened. I have seen computers do the weirdest gosh darn things. I know better than to assume anything at this point. I wouldn't even rule out weird stuff like the data getting corrupted between release qualification and release yet.
This thread is full of these sorts of small technical inaccuracies and oversimplifications so I won't point out all of them, but nothing in the C++ standard requires null pointers to refer to memory address 0x0. Nor does it require that dereferencing a null pointer terminates the program.
Windows died not because C++ asked it nicely to, but because a driver tried to access an address which wasn't paged in.
The funny thing about accessing into non-paged memory in kernel space:
(If this was a simple nullptr dereference on bad input data then perhaps a fuzzer would have helped. Fuzzers are great though I have no idea how hard they are to use with kernel drivers)
Dude would probably call me a "DEI hire"; but I bet I could beat him in a C++ deathmatch so neener neener.
Also, and this shouldn't be left unsaid, we're talking about the Windows kernel here. A place with C++ code so cursed it is legendarily unhealthy to work in, as the cosmic horrors contained within slowly eat away at your sanity and warp the perception of time and space. Seeing that code for a few hours is enough to make a grown man cry. Seeing that code for a few weeks is enough to make you never cry again, as the terrible truth worms its way into your mind.
"DEI hire", hah! The creature makes no distinction for race or gender as it fattens itself upon your failure! Even a glimpse at the edge of its abyss is enough to trigger a cycle of revelation - all modern software lies upon a rotting pile of ancient mistakes.
From a lovely response to the Crowdstrike error and various speculation on what caused it (https://ruby.social/deck/@V0ldek@awful.systems/112824202708490681), comes this gem:
> all modern software lies upon a rotting pile of ancient mistakes.
To be clear: this is 100% true. As we slowly, painfully work our way toward being less awful at software engineering, we are better than we have ever been. As fucked as modern code is, old code was worse.
The lower in the stack you go, the more horrifying the revelations, just as a rule.