Kernel.org Server Rooted and 448 users credentials compromised
Aug 31, 2011
Kernel.org Server Rooted and 448 users credentials compromised The main kernel.org page is currently carrying a notice that the site has suffered a security breach. " Earlier this month, a number of servers in the kernel.org infrastructure were compromised. We discovered this August 28th. While we currently believe that the source code repositories were unaffected, we are in the process of verifying this and taking steps to enhance security across the kernel.org infrastructure. " As the update mentions, there's little to be gained by tampering with the git repositories there anyway. The infection occurred no later than August 12 and wasn't detected for another 17 days. The systems were infected by an off-the-shelf, a self-injecting rootkit known as Phalanx that has attacked sensitive Linux systems before. What happened? Intruders gained root access on the server Hera. We believe they may have gained this access via a compromised user credential; how they man...