Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by zaarn 2705 days ago
Defense in depth is a thing.

SSL provides some security guarantees.

Using signed package databases also provide some security guarantees.

Both may overlap in what security they provide.

BUT!

If one fails, the other can continue to provide a subset of the previously available guarantees.
1 comments
moviuro 2705 days ago
Not in the case of OpenSSL, no. (Some) OpenSSL issues, just as (some) apt issues, end with RCE. Game over.

Priv-sep, correctly handling untrusted files (e.g. 1. check signature, then 2. execute whatever; not the other way round), memory-safe languages, etc. would be more welcome additions.

link
blattimwind 2705 days ago
> Priv-sep

Apt even has the had part already implemented by separating the network I/O in other processes. Only problem is that those currently write directly to system directories, but that can be fixed.

link
tracker1 2705 days ago
And overcoming both is much harder than overcoming either on their own.
link
moviuro 2705 days ago
In the worst case, you only need to overcome one. And you ~double your attack surface.
link
tracker1 2705 days ago
Which one? If you gain control of a server, you'd still have to overcome signing... and you only control that single server, not all replicas (for a bug like in TFA).

Could you describe a way to have double the attack surface that would effect the majority of peer servers?

link