[Abishek_Muthian]

Thank you.

Question for legal experts,

Hypothetically if these patches were accepted and was exploited in the wild; If one could prove that they were exploited due to the vulnerabilities caused by these patches can the University/ Prof. be sued for damages and won in an U.S. court (or) Would they get away under Education/Research/Academia cover if any?

[patmorgan23]

Not an attorney but the kernal is likely shielded from liability by it's license. maybe the kernal could sue the contributers for damaging the project but I don't think the end user could.

[liamwestray]

Malicious intent or personal gain negate that sort of thing in civil torts.

Also US code 1030(a)5 A does not care about software license. Any intentional vulnerability added to code counts. Federal cybercrime laws are not known for being terribly understanding…

[Abishek_Muthian]

License is a great catch, thank you. Do the kernel get into separate contract with the contributors?