Ubuntu Security Podcast

This week we cover the recent reports of a new local privilege escalation exploit against the Linux kernel, follow-up on the xz-utils backdoor from last week and it's the beta release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS - plus we talk security vulnerabilities in the X Server, Django, util-linux and more.

It's been an absolutely manic week in the Linux security community as the news and reaction to the recent announcement of a backdoor in the xz-utils project was announced late last week, so we dive deep into this issue and discuss how it impacts Ubuntu and give some insights for what this means for the open source and Linux communities in the future.

This week we bring you a sneak peak of how Ubuntu 23.10 fared at Pwn2Own Vancouver 2024, plus news of malicious themes in the KDE Store and we cover security updates for the Linux kernel, X.Org X Server, TeX Live, Expat, Bash and more.

We cover recent Linux malware from the Magnet Goblin threat actor, plus the news of Ubuntu 23.10 as a target in Pwn2Own Vancouver 2024 and we detail vulnerabilities in Puma, AccountsService, Open vSwitch, OVN, and more.

Andrei is back to discuss recent academic research into malware within the Python/PyPI ecosystem and whether it is possible to effectively combat it with open source tooling, plus we cover security updates for Unbound, libuv, node.js, the Linux kernel, libgit2 and more.

The Linux kernel.org CNA has assigned their first CVEs so we revisit this topic to assess the initial impact on Ubuntu and the CVE ecosystem, plus we cover security updates for Roundcube Webmail, less, GNU binutils and the Linux kernel itself.

This week the Linux kernel project announced they will be assigning their own CVEs so we discuss the possible implications and fallout from such a shift, plus we cover vulnerabilities in the kernel, Glance_store, WebKitGTK, Bind and more.

AppArmor unprivileged user namespace restrictions are back on the agenda this week as we survey the latest improvements to this hardening feature in the upcoming Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, plus we discuss SMTP smuggling in Postfix, runC container escapes and Qualys' recent disclosure of a privilege escalation exploit for GNU libc and more.

For the first episode of 2024 we take a look at the case of a raft of bogus FOSS CVEs reported on full-disclosure as well as AppSec tools in Ubuntu and the EOL announcement for 23.04, plus we cover vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, Puma, Paramiko and more.

For the final episode of 2023 we discuss creating PoCs for vulns in tar and the looming EOL for Ubuntu 23.04, plus we look into security updates for curl, BlueZ, Netatalk, GNOME Settings and a heap more.

Mark Esler is our special guest on the podcast this week to discuss the OpenSSF's Compiler Options Hardening Guide for C/C++ plus we cover vulnerabilities and updates for GIMP, FreeRDP, GStreamer, HAProxy and more.

This week we take a deep dive into the Reptar vuln in Intel processors plus we look into some relic vulnerabilities in Squid and OpenZFS and finally we detail new hardening measures in tracker-miners to keep your desktop safer.

As we ease back into regular programming, we cover the various activities the team got up to over the past few weeks whilst away in Riga for the Ubuntu Summit and Ubuntu Engineering Sprint.

With the Ubuntu Summit just around the corner, we preview a couple talks by the Ubuntu Security team, plus we look at security updates for OpenSSL, Sofia-SIP, AOM, ncurses, the Linux kernel and more.

After a well-deserved break, we're back looking at the recent Ubuntu 23.10 release and the significant security technologies it introduces along with a call for testing of unprivileged user namespace restrictions, plus the details of security updates for curl, Samba, iperf3, CUE and more.

It's the Linux Security Summit in Bilbao this week and we bring you some highlights from our favourite talks, plus we cover the 25 most stubborn software weaknesses, and we look at security updates for Open VM Tools, libwebp, Django, binutils, Indent, the Linux kernel and more.

Andrei is back this week with a deep dive into recent research around CVSS scoring inconsistencies, plus we look at a recent Ubuntu blog post on the internals of package updates and the repositories, and we cover security updates in Apache Shiro, GRUB2, CUPS, RedCloth, curl and more.

This week we detail the recently announced and long-awaited feature of TPM-backed full-disk encryption for the upcoming Ubuntu 23.10 release, plus we cover security updates for elfutils, GitPython, atftp, BusyBox, Docker Registry and more.

This week we cover reports of "fake" CVEs and their impact on the FOSS security ecosystem, plus we look at security updates for PHP, Fast DDS, JOSE for C/C++, the Linux kernel, AMD Microcode and more.

This week we talk about HTTP Content-Length handling, intricacies of group management in container environments and making sure you check your return codes while covering vulns in HAProxy, Podman, Inetutils and more, plus we put a call out for input on using open source tools to secure your SDLC.