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this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Linux
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'd rather they didn't announce it existed before announcing what it is.. now we've got to sit around for a week potentially knowing the curl command could give someone root access or something.
If they annoubce what is it, attackers could use the bug to exploit systems before people get chance to update.
Though I worry its possible to know what the bug is by reviewing changes in curl source code
The exploit is years old and has been unknown until recently, and they specifically didn't list which versions are affected to avoid making it easier to figure out through code changes.
So don't announce anything.. keep it quiet until the fixes are ready.
Now potential hackers know there's a flaw there and will be looking for it, and they have clear space to do so before anyone can fix it.
From what I've heard, it's to give companies time to prep for downtime to patch. If they just released the fix now, companies would have to scramble to deal with unexpected downtime.
I believe package maintainers have also been given the fix early to prepare it for release. That means there's no waiting for Ubuntu or whoever to have the update available.