There’s a new vulnerability du jour in Linux called Segment Smack. The early writeups about it were really confusing, so I sorted it out and wrote it up for my employer. You can read it here.
The key takeaways, in my opinion: You’re almost guaranteed to have to reboot for this to take effect. Also, most of the writeups say there’s nothing you can do to mitigate except patch. Not quite true. I show you in the writeup how to block the attack long enough to free resources so you can patch. There’s nothing good you can do, but there is a quick fix available to you if you need it.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.