NEWS
NEWS
Updates on technologies, trends, and tools
Microsoft is Shutting Down CodePlex
Microsoft has announced that it is shutting down its open source code hosting platform CodePlex, which allowed developers to host and share the source code of open source software. Microsoft created the site in 2006.
Microsoft is not the only vendor that has shut down an open source code hosting platform. In 2015, Google shut down Google Code.
Linus Torvald's Git version control system is the reason behind the demise of Google Code and CodePlex. In a blog post, Microsoft engineer Brian Harry wrote, "Over the years, we've seen a lot of amazing options come and go but at this point, GitHub is the de facto place for open source sharing and most open source projects have migrated there."
Even Google and Microsoft are now using the Git-based GitHub to host their open source code. "As many of you know, Microsoft has invested in Visual Studio Team Services as our 'One Engineering System' for proprietary projects, and we've exposed many of our key open source projects on GitHub (Visual Studio Code, TypeScript, .NET, the Cognitive Toolkit, and more). In fact, our GitHub organization now has more than 16,000 open source contributors – more than any other organization – and we're proud to partner closely with GitHub to promote open source."
Microsoft has disabled the ability to create new CodePlex projects. In October, it will be set to read-only, and by December 2017, plugs will be pulled on the service, bringing an end to an era.
Fedora 26 Alpha Released
The Fedora community has announced the alpha release of Fedora 26. According to the release schedule, Fedora 26 is scheduled to be released on June 27, 2017, but unlike Ubuntu, Fedora is not firm with release dates, and they are known for delaying releases if things are not ready.
The alpha is not meant for production usage; it's meant for testing and filing bug reports.
Ryan Lerch wrote in Fedora Magazine, "Fedora Alpha releases are provided for Fedora users to try out the upcoming release. More importantly, Fedora engineers want you to file bugs against the upcoming release. The Fedora 26 Changeset page on the Fedora wiki provides a list of new features provided in Fedora 26."
Fedora 26 comes with newer versions of packages, including Gnome 3.24 and DNF 2.0. You can see the list of packages included in Fedora 26 online (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Releases/26/ChangeSet).
You can download and test Fedora 26 Alpha from the official download page.
Old Linux Kernel Bug Discovered
Alexander Popov, one of the winners of the 2016 Linux Foundation Training (LiFT) scholarship, has discovered a very old bug in the Linux kernel that can affect modern systems.
Popov wrote on a mailing list, "This is an announcement of CVE-2017-2636, which is a race condition in the n_hdlc Linux kernel driver (drivers/tty/n_hdlc.c). It can be exploited to gain a local privilege escalation. This driver provides HDLC serial line discipline and comes as a kernel module in many Linux distributions, which have CONFIG_N_HDLC=m in the kernel config."
Popov fixed the issue by using a "standard kernel linked list protected by a spinlock and got rid of n_hdlc.tbuf. In the case of transmission error, the current data buffer is put after the head of tx_buf_list," he wrote on the mailing list.
The issue is affecting major distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). According to a Red Hat Bugzilla submission, although RHEL 5 is unaffected, the bug does affect the Linux kernel packages shipped with RHEL 6 and 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2. Because this issue is rated important, it has been scheduled to be fixed in future updates for the respective releases. Canonical has already released a patch; SUSE is working on it.
The bug is old, and the module is used in really old hardware; even if the module is shipped with modern Linux distributions, it's never loaded by default. However, the module is automatically loaded "if an unprivileged user opens a pseudoterminal and calls TIOCSETD ioctl for it setting N_HDLC line discipline," explained Popov.
One might wonder why users should worry about it. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explained, because "it's easy to do, which means it's easy for a local user to exploit. Before poo-pooing this as a non-issue, keep in mind that with hosted and cloud computing, many people have 'local' access to Linux servers."
As always, check your distribution and run updates to patch the flaws.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
-
DebConf24 to be Held in South Korea
Busan will be the location of the latest DebConf running July 28 through August 4