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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).

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

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year 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/

[–] Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

[–] Ramenator 5 points 1 year 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] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year 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.