Root out rootkits
On the Trail
© Lead Image © silense, 123RF.com
Detect rootkits, worms, and other malware with chkrootkit.
Sophisticated software can help you keep an eye out for malware, but by the time it's spotted, it's probably too late, costing you the time to repair and rebuild your system, as well as a loss of revenue if it's a production system. Chkrootkit is a proven, mature, and highly sophisticated tool that helps you detect a variety of malware in an ongoing process.
A True Story
A year or two after the turn of the millennium, I lost a server through the disastrous compromise of a popular web-based application. Thankfully, although the server was in use, there were no services on it that couldn't wait a few days before being restored.
The first clue that something was wrong was some strange filesystem behavior while logged in over SSH. I checked the Apache error logs, and – lo and behold – I found some output detailing a wget transaction. The wget file transfer was showing an illegitimate download from a nasty-looking URL.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
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
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.