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andaitoday at 1:48 AM4 repliesview on HN

Can someone help me understand the copyfail thing and how it relates to NPM packages?

Edit: I think I understand. copyfail is a kernel bug that lets a malicious npm package get root access on your Linux server, right?

So now, while there are unpatched servers, is when it would be the perfect time for attackers to target NPM packages.

And the advice isn't just "update your kernel" because we are still finding new related issues?


Replies

ahpeeyemtoday at 1:58 AM

NPM supply-chain attacks spread really quickly.

If a popular NPM package was compromised and included a copy.fail exploit, it would make lots of systems vulnerable to root privilege escalation.

wavemodetoday at 6:57 AM

> And the advice isn't just "update your kernel" because we are still finding new related issues?

The advice isn't just "update your kernel" because there is no update. The latest vulnerability (the one discovered after copy.fail) still has no fix.

Gigachadtoday at 7:45 AM

The patches for the latest vulnerabilities aren’t even out yet. So it would be a real bad time for a new supply chain attack since it would get root on pretty much every system.

xenatoday at 1:49 AM

npm can run on linux.