[ale] Redhat and Fedora servers compromised

[Thompson Freeman]

On 08/22/2008 05:31:57 PM, hscast at charter.net wrote:
> 
> ---- Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> > A very distressing announcement.
> > Be aware that this impacts CentOS servers as well. They
> have posted notice
> >  
> http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2008-August/015193.html
> >  
> http://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/2008-August/015194.html
> > of the updated openssh packages to re-secure the
> repositories.
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 3:04 PM, Bob Toxen
> <transam at verysecurelinux.com>wrote:
> >
<<snip>>
> > > Anyone running a Fedora or Red Hat Enterprise system
> where RPMs may have
> > > been
> > > installed recently, either automatically or manually,
> is at risk and should
> > > download Red Hat's tool to check for compromised RPMs.
> > >
> > > No doubt Microsoft will try to hype this.  Remember
> that Microsoft is
> > > forced
> > > to provide a patch for the equivalent of a remote root
> vulnerability that
> > > affects MOST
> > > customers almost weekly, in our opinion.
> > >
> > > This appears to be a fault in System Administration by
> Red Hat rather than
> > > a security bug in Linux, though not all the facts are
> in at this time.
> > >
> > > Linux still is far more secure and reliable than
> Microsoft.
> > >
> > > Bob Toxen
> > > bob at verysecurelinux.com               [Please use for
> email to me]
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Ale mailing list
> > > Ale at ale.org
> > > http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > --
> > James P. Kinney III
> Am I understanding this correct that the software used for
> updates as well may be contaminated as well? I am
> currently experiencing weird problems like things
> disappearing, unable to launch apps and now I can't login,
> oh also the gdm screen has gone black with just the login
> box. Running Fedora 9 or trying to. It's a little
> confusing right now since I also have new hardware, all at
> the same time.

Following the Fedora list, Fedora 9 hasn't been the best  
behaved release even before the intrusion/compromise. With  
the compromise of the release servers, the noise on that  
list is horrid.

I hesitate offer advise. If it were _my_ gear, I think I'd  
drop back to Fedora 8 at least long enough to verify the  
hardware functioning, and possibly give Fedora 9 a complete  
pass.