The Core Infrastructure Initiative revisited
Core Values
© Lead Image © Maxim Kazim, 123RF.com
How does the Core Infrastructure Initiative fare three years in?
The Linux Foundation started the Core Infrastructure Initiative (CII) [1] after the discovery of several security vulnerabilities in 2014. As serious as the bugs themselves was the discovery that many core Linux projects were unequipped to respond to them. The CII was started in an effort to alleviate and prevent such bugs in the future. But how is the CII doing three years after its founding? For answers, I talked with Nicko van Someren of the CII.
According to van Someren, 2014 was marked by the discovery of a number of vulnerabilities. They included the ShellShock bug in Bash and a denial of service attack through the Network Time Protocol. However, the bug that received the most public attention was Heartbleed [2], which had infected the OpenSSL cryptography library for two years before its discovery. As Heartbleed was patched, it became obvious that the OpenSSL project, like many other Linux packages, lacked both the funding and the developers to respond adequately to such a threat.
The discovery of Heartbleed – deliberately named to attract attention – marked "the realization as to just how dependent commercial software has become on open source components," van Someren says. "The urgency of Heartbleed meant that vendors needed to fix things immediately and needed to tell people why." However, the CII is not just the software equivalent of a fire department responding to each crisis as it emerges. "Our goal with identifying projects that are at risk is so that we can provide help and resources – before – there is an urgent problem," von Someren says.
[...]
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
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 is Available
Linus Torvalds has announced that the latest kernel has been released with plenty of core improvements and even more hardware support.
-
Kali Linux 2025.3 Released with New Hacking Tools
If you're a Kali Linux fan, you'll be glad to know that the third release of this famous pen-testing distribution is now available with updates for key components.
-
Zorin OS 18 Beta Available for Testing
The latest release from the team behind Zorin OS is ready for public testing, and it includes plenty of improvements to make it more powerful, user-friendly, and productive.
-
Fedora Linux 43 Beta Now Available for Testing
Fedora Linux 43 Beta ships with Gnome 49 and KDE Plasma 6.4 (and other goodies).
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.