• baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
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    9 months ago

    I am not a security expert, but the scenario they describe sounds exactly like authentication bypass to a layman like me.

    According to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqjtNDtbDNI the software installs a malicious library that overwrite the signature verification function of ssh.

    I was wondering if the bypass function was designed to be slightly less resource intensive, it probably won’t be discovered and will be shipped to production.

    Also I have mixed feeling about dynamic linking, on the one hand, it allows projects like harden malloc to easily integrate into the system, on the other hand, it also enables the attacker to hijack the library in a similar fashion.

    • Aatube@kbin.melroy.org
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      9 months ago

      5.6.1 in fact made it less resources-intensive, but the distro happened to not have updated yet when Freund discovered the backdoor.

    • Cochise@lemmy.eco.br
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      9 months ago

      Authentication bypass should give you interactive access. “I’m in” like. Remote code execution only allows you to run a command, without permanent access. You can use some RCE vulnerabilities to bypass authentication, but not all.

      • baseless_discourse@mander.xyz
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        9 months ago

        Yeah, but the malicious code replaces the ssh signature verification function to let it allow a specific signature. Hence attacker, with the key, can ssh into any system without proper authentication by ssh.

        This kind of describes authentication by-pass, not just remote code execution…