Tuesday, October 17, 2000

Linux Half-Life Server Vulnerability -- 11:12 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Security Focus is reporting that there is a rather serious buffer overflow bug that IS being exploited in the Linux Half-Life dedicated server 3.1.0.3 and earlier. Here's the scoop:

A buffer overflow vulnerability was discovered in a Half-Life dedicated server during a routine security audit. A user shell was found running on the ingreslock port of the server which lead to an investigation into how this had been achieved. - From the logs left on the server, it was ascertained that a predefined exploit script was used and that the perpetrator failed to further compromise the server due to the Half-Life software running as a non-priveledged user.

The vulnerability appears to exist in the changelevel rcon command and does not require a valid rcon password.
. . .
Valve Software promised a patch which has yet to appear. Interim measures would include:-

A) Consider not running the HalfLife software at all!
B) Remove the world execute bit from inetd to 'break' the exploit code - this would only stop the script kiddies
C) Ensure sane ipfwadm/ipchains filters are inplace

Linux H-L server admins would probably be best served to bring down their servers until a patch is released . . . and check your logs. Thanks Linux Games.

Speaking of Linux security, I spent the better part of this evening applying bug fixes and security fixes to my Red Hat 6.2 install so I can be relatively secure online. Now I need to figure out IPCHAINS. Not looking forward to that one.

Unreal Tournament 434 Info -- 11:03 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Unreal Universe got their hands on some of the fixes for the Unreal Tournament 434 patch, which will mainly fix things broken in the previous patch *cough*. Thanks Blue.

Linux Help -- 11:00 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I found a couple of websites that have helpful information on Linux, especially geared toward newbies trying to get a system set up of their own. They are:

An eclectic compendium for Linux newbies and

Silverglass Tech.

Some of that information is geared specifically for users of Xmission's Internet access, but the majority of it applies to most everyone.

This is Spinal Tap -- 4:54 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I just dropped a little over $20 at Best Buy buying the This is Spinal Tap in VHS and getting the soundtrack CD. Tap is one of my all-time favorite movies--one I never get sick of watching. The sad thing about watching it on cable was that they always edited out my favorite line (hint: it's the two-word review for their album Shark Sandwich). No problems with that now! Time to pop the disc in and turn it up to 11.

Oddly enough, &numl; is not a legitimate HTML code.

Monday, October 16, 2000

NFL Week #7 Final -- 11:50 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Eeyore and I had our best week ever as we both ended up 11-3 in this week's NFL picks. Year to date, I'm now 64-36 and Eeyore is 47-38. I've been a rather sterling 21-7 over the past two weeks--I hope it keeps up!

High-Speed Internet -- 5:42 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I've been testing this new high-speed Internet access (128K both ways). I must say it is rather nice. I just played a bit of Unreal Tournament and discovered that my modem seems to have been a bigger barrier to my online playing than my video card is. That does present a problem: I can no longer use modem retrains, etc., as an excuse! Now it's just sheer lack of skillz.

New Visors -- 11:17 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Handspring has officially announced two new additions to their Visor line of PalmOS-based PDAs. They include the Prism with 16-bit color, and the Platinum which is basically a turbo-charged Visor Deluxe (it's 50% faster). The Handspring website is being hammered right now, but you can see the Prism on VisorCentral. According to Handspring, both models are shipping now.

I must confess that the Prism looks pretty cool. Handspring claims to get six hours of runtime with their Lithium Ion battery. Pretty impressive for a color model. Still, I don't think I'll be trading in my Deluxe any time soon. The Prism's $449 sticker price is a little rich for my blood.

Past Two Days' News

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