Open Source Security Podcast

Josh and Kurt talk about a survey about a TuxCare patch management and vulnerability detection. Sometimes our security bubble makes us forget what it's like in the real world for the people who keep our infrastructure running. Patching isn't always immediate, automation doesn't fix everything, and accepting risk is very important. Show Notes State of Enterprise Vulnerability Detection and Patch Management CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog Google 0days

Josh and Kurt talk about a lot of security vulnerabilities in this month's Patch Tuesday. There's also a new Git vulnerability. This sparks the age old question of how fast to patch? The answer isn't binary, the right answer is whatever works best for you, not what someone tells you is best. Show Notes Patch Tuesday Git security update

Josh and Kurt talk about hackers using emergency data requests to gain access to sensitive data. The argument that somehow backdoors can be protected falls under this problem. We don't yet have the technical or policy protections in place to actually protect this data. We also explain why this zlib issue got a 2018 CVE ID in 2022. Show Notes Hackers using fake emergency data requests CVE-2018-25032 Global Security Database

  Josh and Kurt talk about the binary nature of security. Many of our ideas are yes or no, there's not much in the middle. The conversation ends up derailed due to a Twitter thread about pinning dependencies. This gives you an idea how contentious of a topic pinning is. The final takeaway is not to let security turn into your identity, it ends up making a mess. Show Notes Josh's Twitter thread How to install week old npm packages

  Josh and Kurt talk about the latest NPM backdoored package. It feels like this keeps happening. We talk about why this is and why it's probably OK. Kurt fixes Linus' Law, in open source the superpower isn't bugs are shallow (they're not), the superpower is security bugs in open source can't be ignored. Show Notes node-ipc protestware

Josh and Kurt talk about Microsoft accidentally letting us find out about ads in file explorer. Changing your clocks sucks. And touch on some of the security implications of the Russian invasion and sanctions. There are a lot of security lessons we can all learn. Mostly what not to do. Show Notes Ads in Windows Filemanager Russia running out of storage Russia threatens to nationalize industry Onagawa Nuclear Power Plant Cockcroft's Follies German government advises citizens to uninstall Kaspersky

Josh and Kurt talk about the Linux Kernel Dirty Pipe security vulnerability. This bug is an amazing combination of amazing complexity, incredible simplicity, and a little bit of luck. The discovery is amazing, the analysis is enlightening. There's almost no way a bug like this could be found outside of open source. Show Notes Dirty Pipe Writeup

Josh and Kurt talk about the challenges of security at scale. Specifically we focus on why a lot of security starts to fall apart once you have to do something more than a few times. There's a lot of new thinking we need to push security forward. Show Notes Stable Linux Kernel and Machine Learning

Josh and Kurt talk about SBOMs. Not what they are, there's plenty about that. We talk about why everyone keeps claiming they're super important, and why we're starting to see some people question if we really need them. SBOMs are part of a future that's still being invented. Show Notes Questioning SBOMs Rezilion Log4j diagram David A Wheeler on CII Badges Using open source is communism

Josh and Kurt talk about the Coinbase Super Bowl ad. It was a QR code, lots of security people were aghast at how many people scanned the QR code. The reality is scanning QR codes isn't dangerous. What other security advice just won't go away? Show Notes Coinbase Ad Kurt's Twitter question QR code parking scam Mossad or not Mossad Kurt's talk

Josh and Kurt talk to Hayley Tsukayama from the EFF about privacy. We all know privacy in the modern age is very complicated and difficult. Normal people don't have many allies when it comes to privacy. The EFF has been blazing the trail for digital rights for more than 30 years! This episode has a ton of amazing details, it's easy to see how the EFF became the jewel of the Internet. Show Notes Hayley's Twitter EFF How to Fix the Internet Episode 277 – Privacy and activism with Chris Weiland Washington State privacy bill Join the EFF (seriously, do this!)

Josh and Kurt talk about NPM requiring 2FA for the top 100 packages. We discuss the new Alpha and Omega projects from the OpenSSF and what it could mean for the future of open source security. Then we end on a note about the new Samba critical vulnerability. Show Notes NPM requires 2FA OpenSSF Alpha and Omega David A. Wheeler episode Linux Foundation LFX Samba Advisory

Josh and Kurt talk about how to get attention for security problems. Recent research around Twitter credentials checked into GitHub showed us how to get a lot of attention when compared to a problem like Log4Shell which took years before anyone really picked up on the problem. It's hard to talk about security sometimes. Show Notes Josh's computer vision code Twitter secrets Qualys pwnkit

Josh and Kurt talk about the Global Security Database (GSD) project. This is a Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) effort to build community around vulnerability identifiers. Show Notes We rate dogs Racoons that heal your sadness Global Security Database Episode 261 – DWF is back! Welcome to community powered CVE GSD mailing list GSD Circle group GSD Database GSD Project Plan

Josh and Kurt talk about the faker and colors NPM events. There is a lot of discussion around open source being broken or somehow failing because of these events. The real answer is open source is an experience. How we interact with our dependencies determines what the experience looks like. Show Notes Developer corrupts colors and faker Will Wright Pee Internet Anonymity

Josh and Kurt talk about Norton creating an Ethereum mining pool. This is almost certainly a bad idea, we explain why. We then discuss the reality of NFTs and the case of stolen apes. NFTs can be very confusing. The whole world of cryptocurrency is very confusing for normal people. None of this is new, there have always been con artists, there will always be con artists. Show Notes Norton Crypto FAQ Stolen Ape Smart contract to buy the constitution YEAR token

Josh and Kurt talk about the question will we ever fix all the vulnerabilities? The question came from Reddit and is very reasonable, but it turns out this is REALLY hard to discuss. The answer is of course "no", but why it is no is very complicated. Far more complicated than either of us thought it would be. Show Notes Will cyber security vulnerabilities ever "stop existing" ?

Josh and Kurt start the show with the reading of a security themed Christmas poem. We then discuss some of the new happenings around Log4j. The basic theme is that even if we were over-investing in Log4j, it probably wouldn't have caught this. There are still a lot of things to unpack with this event, I'm sure we'll be talking about it well into the future. Log before Christmas poem 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the stack Not a scanner was scanning, not even a rack, The SBOMs were uploaded to the portal with care, In hopes that next year would be boring and bare The interns were nestled all snug at their beds; While visions of dashboards danced in their heads; The CISO in their 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just slept our laptops for a long winter's nap, When all of a sudden the pager went ack ack I sprang to my laptop with worries of attack Away to the browser I flew like a flash, Tore open the window and cleared out the cache The red of the dashboard the glow of the screen Gave a lust

Josh and Kurt talk about the same topic everyone is talking about, Log4j. This episode was recorded on the Wednesday after the first Log4j issue. We point out all the gaps and difficulties for the defenders. The situation has gotten worse since then. Good luck to everyone dealign with this thing Show Notes Log4j GSD entry Minecraft server discussion Log4j GitHub issue 608

Josh and Kurt talk about the epic failure that was episode 300. But this ties nicely into the topic of the day which is new ways to do things. The example is a new way to hold a controller when playing Tetris. There are always new tools and new ideas in security. Sometimes we have to abandon the old way because the new way to too good to ignore. Show Notes Lawfare Apple NSO podcast New way to play Tetris