Linux developers have issued a critical update for the open-source OS after researchers uncovered a vulnerability in its kernel that puts most versions built in the past eight years at risk of complete takeover.
The bug involves the way kernel-level routines such as sock_sendpage react when they are left unimplemented. Instead of linking to a corresponding placeholder, (for example, sock_no_accept), the function pointer is left uninitialized. Sock_sendpage doesn't always validate the pointer before dereferencing it, leaving the OS open to local privilege escalation that can completely compromise the underlying machine.
[Read the rest of this article...]
Read it quick: this article will self-destruct in eight hours.
Not really, of course - but soon, permanently vanishing web correspondence could be the next step in maintaining your privacy online.
Emails, Facebook messages, and Google Docs can all be set to disappear into thin air by using new software developed by the University of Washington and called, appropriately enough, Vanish.
"We wanted to create a system that would allow our data to self-destruct and become permanently unreadable," assistant professor Yoshi Kohno, who designed the software, told the BBC's Digital Planet programme.
Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, Sir Bob Geldof and Chrissie Hynde have recorded a reworked version of folk classic 'Chicago', as part of the campaign to convince US President Barack Obama to allow McKinnon to be tried in the UK.
The question over who is funding McKinnon's protracted and spirited legal battle has become increasingly prevalent in recent weeks.