Re: DJB's students release 44 *nix software vulnerability advisories
: Widely deployed open source software is commonly believed to contain
: fewer security vulnerabilities than similar closed source software due
: to the possibility of unrestricted third party source code auditing.
: Predictably, most users of open source software do not invest a
: significant amount of time to audit the applications they use and now a
: class of 25 students has discovered 44 vulnerabilities during a CS
: course.
: D.J. Bernstein (http://cr.yp.to/djb.html) is lecturing a course this
: fall at the University of Illinois at Chicago called "MCS 494: Unix
: Security Holes" (http://cr.yp.to/2004-494.html). One of the requirements
: to pass the course was to find and exploit 10 previously undiscovered
: security holes in currently deployed Unix software.
:
: With a class of 25 students discovering 44 vulnerabilities most students
: now expect to fail the course
: (http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/15/2113202).
:
: The 44 security advisories have been published at
:
: http://tigger.uic.edu/~jlongs2/holes/
In each case, Professor Bernstein notified the author of the vulnerable
package on Dec 15 via e-mail. This mail hit Bugtraq on the 16th, giving
one day for vendors to provide fixes.
Is the class on responsible disclosure next semester perhaps?