[plug] Help needed - hackers/crackers and monolithic kernels

[Shayne O'Neill]

The problem really with the hypothesis that kernel messaging is the cause
of all this kernel 'sploiting, is that "messaging" in its true sense of
the term really only emerged in linux around DBUS or whatever its called.

Truth be told, most of the kernel 'sploits are more to do with buffer
smashes, locking shenanigans and other out-of-bound value type stuff.
Something no design except good design can prevent.

Ultimately the only defence against kernel exploits on any OS, is to not
let em in in the first place.

--
Freedom's just another word for something new to regulate

On Fri, 5 Aug 2005, Carl Gherardi wrote:

> On 8/5/05, Richard Meyer <meyerri at westnet.com.au> wrote:
> > > "It takes all the necessary modules and drivers and incorporates them
> > > into the kernel to form on large kernel. You can't exploit
> > > communication between external modules and the kernel to form one
> > > large
> > > kernel. You can't exploit communication between external modules and
> > > the kernel like you can in Windows and Linux."
> >
> > Now, AFAIK, the Mac (OSX) kernel is a derivative of the Mach kernel,
> > which is a micro-kernel - therefore Patrick Whossname is talking crap
> > about monolithic, and I have never heard that microkernels are LESS
> > secure than monolithic kernels.
>
> OSX is definetly based on mach, but i dont believe its a true micro
> kernel as such.
>
> > Anybody got any (printable) rebuttals - yes, I'm looking at you, Craig
> > Ringer, and anybody else with Mac experience? I've never heard the
> > monolithic kernel story before - it's always been buffer overflows and
> > such fun. Anybody?
>
> Nothing printable, but from experience the Cisco VPN client adds a
> kernel level networking stack to talk to which has crashed my mac with
> the equivalent of an oops a few times.
>
> Carl G
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