Linux

48338 readers

701 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

SSH protects the world’s most sensitive networks. It just got a lot weaker (arstechnica.com)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

31 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 68 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Even the researcher who reported this doesn't go as far as this headline.

"I am an admin, should I drop everything and fix this?"

Probably not.

The attack requires an active Man-in-the-Middle attacker that can intercept and modify the connection's traffic at the TCP/IP layer. Additionally, we require the negotiation of either ChaCha20-Poly1305, or any CBC cipher in combination with Encrypt-then-MAC as the connection's encryption mode.

[...]

"So how practical is the attack?"

The Terrapin attack requires an active Man-in-the-Middle attacker, that means some way for an attacker to intercept and modify the data sent from the client or server to the remote peer. This is difficult on the Internet, but can be a plausible attacker model on the local network.

https://terrapin-attack.com/

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

If someone can gain physical access to your network, you're already fucked.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Yeah, if the attacker is in a position to do a MitM attack you have much larger problems than a ssh vulnerability that so far can at most downgrade the encryption of your connection in nearly all cases

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It definitely receives more clicks. I've posted this link here a day ago, but arstechnicas title is more engaging. My first thought was whether there's been another vulnerability found.

That said, the headline isn't as bad as it could've been.