In systemd we started to do more and more Varlink IPC (instead of or 9n addition to D-Bus), and you might wonder what that is all about. In this AllSystemsGo talk I try to explain things a bit, enjoy: https://media.ccc.de/v/all-systems-go-2024-276-varlink-now-

From @gregkh : Rust is going to help us with [CVEs in the Linux Kernel] by eliminating some bug classes.

#RustLang #kr2024

I'm at Kernel Recipes 2024, starting the live blog now https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2024/category/live-blog/

Day 1 Morning: https://kernel-recipes.org/en/2024/2024/09/18/live-blog-day-1-morning/

#KernelRecipes #kr2024

Judging from the absolutely packed out rust sessions I went to at LPC and the very positive support from senior people including especially @gregkh it is super clear to me that rust is here to stay in the kernel and a big part of its future.

Have offered to help (or at least be cc'd in hopes I have time for it :) on mm binding stuff fwiw from the kernel side.

And also I really do have to sit down with rust finally... Maybe advent of code this year...

THIS IS IT!!!

The last hurdle for PREEMPT_RT being merged into mainline has just removed by this pull request. Leaving the door open for PREEMPT_RT to be added to 6.12!

"Defects-in-Depth: Analyzing the Integration of Effective Defenses against One-Day Exploits in Android Kernels" is a great read:
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/usenixsecurity24-maar-defects.pdf

"integrating defense-in-depth mechanisms from the mainline Android kernel could mitigate 84.6% of these exploitation flows"

h/t @rene_mobile
@IAIK

#Linux 6.11 is out:

https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAHk-=whVpSHw9+4ov=oLevfv8sPYbh59T_9VKif-6Vqkr41jQA@mail.gmail.com/

'"I'm once again on the road and not in my normal timezone, but it's Sunday afternoon here in Vienna, and 6.11 is out.

The last week was actually pretty quiet and calm, which is nice to see. […]

Anyway, with this, the merge window will obviously open tomorrow, and I already have 40+ pull requests pending. That said, exactly _because_ I'm on the road, it will probably be a fairly slow start […] please be patient."'

#Kernel #LinuxKernel

This "untrusted data" patch series from Benno Lossin is the result of conversations at last weekend's Rust Linux kernel conference in Copenhagen:

https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240913112643.542914-1-benno.lossin@proton.me/

It's not a "silver bullet" for why we should be using rust in the Linux kernel, but it is a "big giant sledgehammer" to help squash and prevent from happening MANY common types of kernel vulnerabilities and bugs (remember, "all input is evil!" and this change forces you to always be aware of that, which is something that C in the kernel does not.)

I had always felt that Rust was the future for what we need to do in Linux, but now I'm sure, because if we can do stuff like this, with no overhead involved (it's all checked at build time), then we would be foolish not to give it a real try.

And yes, I've asked for this for years from the C developers, and maybe we can also do it there, but it's not obvious how and no one has come up with a way to do so. Maybe now they will have some more incentive :)

Must not make a comparison. Really. Must not. But just saying...

Clang Built Linux took literally years of effort. And it's all still C, just a different compiler.

Did anyone really expect Rust for Linux to be a breeze?

I know, I know, apples and oranges.

kangrejos in copenhagen was great, but the absolute 🤯 moment was when I learned that GFP_ stands for get_free_pages

I had no idea. and @gregkh next to me had the same https://xkcd.com/1053/ experience

#kernel

BREAKING: Linus rescinds all 'don't break userland' requirements for mm as he deems memory 'virtual' and therefore not real

Anyone else often find themselves starting a retort/reply to a thread here, only to abandon the effort part way through, because you realize your time is better spent supporting/fixing/making things than trying to educate people who haven't bothered to do any of the most basic level of self-education on the given topic?

#selinux

Understatement of the year:

https://lore.kernel.org/all/TYUPR06MB6217E6BD48B0B491AA169E67D29D2@TYUPR06MB6217.apcprd06.prod.outlook.com/

Finally converted usbutils over to meson from autotools. Odds are I messed something up, so I should do a release soon to see what broke in the distros as I have no idea how they package this thing anymore:
https://git.sr.ht/~gregkh/usbutils/commit/86dcab8964901d15b87b156546559c8ae28bd9fe

New blogpost about creating bit-by-bit reproducible images with mkosi(!)

https://vdwaa.nl/mkosi-reproducible-arch-images.html

#archlinux #systemd #mkosi

My boss: "how is that Gemini AI trial going? Are you making good use of it?"
Me: "Oh, yeah, for sure."

In non-CVE news, here's some fun hardware I got while visiting Hong Kong. It's not the snappiest laptop I've ever used, but it holds potential!

Kernel source is all public (there's a 6.1.y and 6.6.y tree at the moment), hopefully will start working on getting it all merged upstream to make it a proper platform for others to use.

So far this year the Linux Kernel has done 3000 CVEs even. This means we can expect roughly 4500 for this year in total. Bu I have good news: they only started in Feb so we can expect another 10-15% on top of that for 2025, so with any luck that'll be about 5000. In other words 12.5% or so of TOTAL CVE activity.

So when @gregkh says run current, you need to listen.

You can spend several thousand hours a year trying to triage Linux Kernel vulns, or you can invest that effort into automation (updates, builds, testing, etc.) and stay current and answer "did you fix CVE foo" with either a "yes" or a "that will go out in the next update at future time X".

I'd really like to read a well researched article that sums up how Linux distros reacted to the massive influx of #Linux #kernel CVE that started ~half a year – both for their #LinuxKernel packages and their live-patching offerings.

But I guess that is an enormous amount of work that no media outlet in this world is willing to pay anyone for writing. 😕

Slide taken from @gregkh's "Why are there so many kernel CVEs?" talk he gave at OSS China yesterday (https://social.kernel.org/objects/c9979d9f-399f-428b-ac56-c41598076dfa ) #LinuxKernel

Don't panic! It's only 60 Linux CVE security bulletins a week https://zdnet.com/article/dont-panic-its-only-60-linux-cve-security-bulletins-a-week/ by @sjvn

Sure, it sounds like a lot, but it's just business as usual for #Linux #security.