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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?