[Tfug] Linux bug discovered

[Angus Scott-Fleming]

Unconfirmed ... but the M$ folks will have a field day with this one if it's
true and exploited ... Text from the LinuxReview.org article says:

  Using this exploit to crash Linux systems requires the
  (ab)user to have shell access or other means of
  uploading and running the program (like cgi-bin and FTP
  access). The program works on any normal user account,
  root access is not required.

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Linux bug discovered
 Linus has fixed it
 By Nick Farrell: Tuesday 15 June 2004, 09:51

  A LINUX BUG has been discovered which allows a whole
  system to be exploited by a simple C program.

  On the site Linuxreviews.org the discoverer Øyvind
  Sæther, from Norway, said that using the exploit
  requires the (ab)user to have shell access or other
  means of uploading and running the program—like cgi-bin
  and FTP access. Then it is just a matter of running this
  code which works on any normal user account.

  Along with the code needed to use the exploit, Sæther
  also posted several patches to 2.4 and 2.6 kernels that
  will keep the exploit from crashing systems. The 2.4.xx
  kernel patch can be found here. A patch for the 2.6
  kernel can be found here.

  The exploit works because the Linux kernels signal
  handler isn't handling floating-point (FP) exceptions
  correctly.

  Linus Torvalds has admitted that there is a path into
  the kernel where if there is a pending FP error, the
  kernel will end up taking an FP exception, and it will
  continue to take the FP exception forever. He reckons he
  has fixed it and if he was not moving house he would
  have released a 2.6.7 already.

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Links to more details and fixes embedded in story at
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=16596