● 06.15.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 15/06/2023: Big Browser Update in PCLinuxOS

Posted in News Roundup at 8:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

• This week, Linux Out Loud chats about how we work out hardware budgets. Welcome to episode 66 of Linux Out Loud. We fired up our mics, connected those headphones as we searched the community for themes to expound upon. We kept the banter friendly, the conversation somewhat on topic, and had fun doing it.

• Hello and welcome to the 507th installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode we have special guest Mike, K6GTE, to discuss his project called Not1MM.

Instructionals/Technical

• ModSecurity, the crown jewel of web application firewalls (WAF), stepped up its game with the release of its third iteration, ModSecurity 3. As a pervasive open-source project, it equips users with the necessary tools to shield applications from a variety of security threats.

• Are you tired of sifting through countless menus and options to perform simple tasks in Linux? In this post, we’ve compiled a list of Linux keyboard shortcuts that will help you work efficiently and effortlessly.

• The ‘for’ command is one of the fundamental building blocks in Linux scripting. It allows you to automate repetitive tasks, making your workflow more efficient and less error-prone. Whether you’re a system administrator or a power user, mastering the ‘for’ command can significantly boost your productivity in Linux.

• This article spotlights alternative tools to time, a simple tool that provides timing statistics about a program run.

• The Preboot Execution Environment (PXE), commonly referred to as ‘pixie’, is a means to boot from a Network Interface Card (NIC) to the network. Once booted, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server gives an IP Address to it. Configurations from the DHCP Server will cause the PXE client to contact another server for instructions, in this case a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) Server.

• In our case, the file downloaded to the client will be a menu.

• As the web development landscape continues to evolve, so do the tools and operating systems that developers use to create dynamic, user-friendly websites and applications. Among various Linux distros, Pop!_OS has emerged as a preferred choice for many web developers, thanks to its robust features and seamless user experience.

• If you’re a network administrator or a tech-savvy individual, you’re probably aware of the importance of having a static IP address. Unlike a dynamic IP

• Unlocking the full potential of your Linux system involves understanding the importance of the $PATH variable, which serves as a roadmap for your operating system

• Uninstalling Java from your Ubuntu system may seem like a simple task, but it involves more than just removing the package.

• And it only took 21 hours.

• Linux 6.4 has a bug where it hangs on boot, but probably only 1 in 1000 boots (and rarer if using Intel hardware for some reason). It’s surprising to me that no one has noticed this, but I certainly did because our nbdkit tests which use libguestfs were randomly hanging, always at the same place early in booting the libguestfs qemu appliance:

Games

• Between 2023-06-07 and 2023-06-14 there were 23 New Steam games released with Native Linux clients. For reference, during the same time, there were 238 games released for Windows on Steam, so the Linux versions represent about 9.7 % of total [...]

Distributions and Operating Systems

PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandriva/OpenMandriva Family

• The following Web Browsers are available in the PCLinuxOS Software Center. How many web browsers are in your distribution’s software repository? basilisk-browser-2023.05.01-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmbrave-browser-1.52.122-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmcatalyst-browser-3.4.9-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmchromium-browser-113.0.5672.126-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmchromium-ungoogled-browser-114.0.5735.106-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmfalkon-23.04.2-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmfelida-browser-0.2.4-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmfifo-browser-1.2.2-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpmfirefox-114.0.1-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmgoogle-chrome-browser-114.0.5735.133-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmiridium-browser-2022.04.100-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpmlibrewolf-browser-113.0-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmmicrosoft-edge-browser-114.0.1823.43-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmmin-browser-1.27.0-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmnaver-whale-browser-3.21.192.15-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmopera-browser-99.0.4788.65-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmotter-browser-1.0.03-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpmpalemoon-browser-32.2.0-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmpalemoon-browser-gtk3-32.2.0-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmslimjet-browser-39.0.3.0-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmthorium-browser-111.0.5563.111-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmtor-browser-bundle-11.5.8-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpmulaa-browser-114.0.5735.90-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmvivaldi-browser-6.1.3035.75-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpmwaterfox-classic-browser-2022.11-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpmwaterfox-G-browser-5.1.8-1pclos2023.x86_64.rpm

Debian Family

• Joe has worked in the internet space for quite some time, and co-founded companies like Teraco, Frogfoot, Amobia, Octotel and Atomic Access. Through all of these he’s done interesting and noteworthy work, which I’ve only seen some glimpses of before in the few moments we’ve interacted at CLUG events.

• It was nice seeing a lot more detail of a project that I wouldn’t even know about if he didn’t give this talk.

• When I connect my Desklab USB-C monitor [1] (which has been vastly underused for the last 3 years) into a Linux system the display type is listed as “DO NOT USE – RTK“.

• One of the more informative discussions of this was on Linux Mint forums [2] which revealed that it’s a mapping for an code that shouldn’t be used. So it’s not saying “don’t use this monitor” it’s saying “don’t use this code”. So the Desklab people when they implemented a display with an RTK chipset should have changed the ID field from “RTK” to something representing their use. On Debian the file /usr/share/hwdata/pnp.ids has the IDs and you can grep for RTK in that.

• Also for programmers, please use more descriptive strings than “do not use”, when I was trying to find this on Debian code search [3] it turned up hundreds of pages of results which was more than a human can read through. If the text had been something that would make sense to a user such as “OEM please replace with company name” it would have made it very clear to me (and all the other people searching for this) what it meant and the fact that Desklab had stuffed up. So instead of wondering about this for years before eventually finding the right Google search to find the answer I could have worked it out immediately if the text had been clearer.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

• Canonical has expanded its OpenStack offering to small-scale cloud environments with its new project Sunbeam and product MicroStack, lowering barriers to open-source cloud adoption for organizations with legacy IT estates.

• Ubuntu announced its 22.10 (Kinetic Kudu) release almost 9 months ago, on October 20, 2022, and its support period is now nearing its end. Ubuntu 22.10 will reach end of life on July 20, 2023. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 22.10.

• At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 22.10.

• The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 22.10 is via Ubuntu 23.04. Instructions and caveats for the upgrade may be found at:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LunarUpgrades

• Ubuntu 23.04 continues to be actively supported with security updates and select high-impact bug fixes.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Programming/Development

• What you need is a curated list of programming books. Better than that. A curated list of the best free programming books.

Leftovers

• Although the number of home burglaries has significantly decreased over the past decade, hundreds of break-ins still occur, especially during the summer months. It is crucial to lock your home, even if it is unoccupied for a short period of time. With the highest probability of burglaries happening in July and August, it is essential to take measures to ensure the security of your home, whether you’re simply running errands or embarking on a longer summer vacation.

Hardware

• Nordic Semi nRF7001 is the second nRF70 Series WiFi 6 companion IC. It is designed to add 2.4 GHz WiFi 6 connectivity to Nordic Semi nRF52 and nRF53 wireless SoCs and nRF91 cellular IoT system-in-package and support both client and access point mode. The nRF7001 follows the introduction of the nRF7002 dual-band (2.4GHz/5GHz) WiFi 6 companion IC last year, and target power or cost-optimized use cases where 5 GHz WiFi 6 may not be required or even suitable.

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

• A new Associated Press analysis of government data suggests 10 percent of all COVID aid was lost to fraud or theft. That figure will likely grow.

• A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist accused of violating the Covid mask mandate while rallying outside court in February as the city’s largest national security trial began has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Dickson Chau, the vice-chairperson of pro-democracy group the League of Social Democrats (LSD), denied the charge…

Proprietary

• The Apple silicon Mac Pro is now here but there are already problems relating to the SATA hard drives that people are using with it.

Linux Foundation

• Registration for LPC 2023 will be opened soon. Past experience told us that in-person registration would be sold out very fast. If you plan to join us in Richmond, please follow our blog and social media for the announcements about the registration!

• The Linux Foundation celebrates our diverse and inclusive LGBTQIA+ community.

• The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization focused on fostering innovation through open source, and the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network Global Forum (IOWN Global Forum), which seeks to create a smarter, more connected world, announced a new partnership to collaborate on integrating Linux Foundation software into the IOWN Global Forum platform. The common goal is to develop a collaborative infrastructure that enables higher performance, low latency, and energy efficiency to meet growing data delivery demands.

Security

• Hundreds of thousands of ecommerce sites are impacted by a critical vulnerability in the WooCommerce Stripe Payment Gateway plugin.

• Managing vulnerabilities in operating systems and software can be challenging and even contentious.

• The Workshop on Security and Human Behaviour is happening right now in Carnegie-Mellon University and I’ll be liveblogging it in followups to this post.

• In daily interactions with tech leaders, the term Digital Trust almost always comes up.  Organizations want to ensure that their customers feel safe interacting with them digitally, that their data is secure and that the systems they interact with are reliable.

• A TPM2 chip is a little piece of storage with secure APIs where you can store secrets protected by Secure Boot. Secure Boot establishes a chain of trust by computing hashes based on, for example, hardware or software components. This way you can store a LUKS decryption key which is only accessible if the system is in a non-tampered state (in theory). Unfortunately, this means you’ll want to measure things like your initramfs and kernel into this state which means invalidating this factor every time you do a system upgrade. FIDO U2F keys do not suffer from this problem as they are not tied to the hardware platform.

• Check out my previous article about using an integrated TPM2 secure storage device to learn more in-depth specifics about how TPM2-based unlocking works and its security implications.

• SAP has released eight new security notes on June 2023 Security Patch Day, including two that address high-severity vulnerabilities.

• ICS Patch Tuesday: Siemens and Schneider Electric have published more than a dozen advisories addressing over 200 vulnerabilities.

• Hackers are impersonating cybersecurity researchers on Twitter and GitHub to publish fake proof-of-concept exploits for zero-day vulnerabilities that infect Windows and Linux with malware.

• Today is Microsoft’s June 2023 Patch Tuesday, with security updates for 78 flaws, including 38 remote code execution vulnerabilities.

• CISA’s Binding Operational Directive 23-02 requires federal agencies to secure the network management interfaces of certain classes of devices.

Defence/Aggression

• Hong Kong’s national security police say they have arrested two people for perverting the course of justice, including one who had been released on bail after being detained earlier on suspicion of conspiracy to forgery and publishing “seditious” posts.

• A student has shot and seriously wounded a teacher in an incident at an elementary school in the Bosnian town of Lukavac, a little more than a month after a teen in neighboring Serbia killed eight fellow students and a security guard at a school.

• Chancellor Olaf Scholz has just released Germany’s national security strategy. Atlantic Council experts answer the most urgent questions about the document and the path forward for this major European power.

• Germany on Wednesday called China a “partner, competitor and systemic rival” in the release of its first national security strategy, accusing Beijing of repeatedly acting against the European giant’s interests in a bid to reshape the global order.

Environment

Overpopulation

• The hunger levels are inextricably linked to climate disasters, conflict, insecurity, and economic shocks, the IGAD Secretary Gebeyehu said.

Civil Rights/Policing

• Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal has again questioned a written judgement in a civil case by national security judge Wilson Chan, who recently received a “serious reprimand” for plagiarising most of his ruling from the plaintiff in a separate case.

• A Hong Kong court has cast doubt on the admissibility of evidence presented by representatives of activist Gordon Ng, who is the first of 16 defendants to make his case in a landmark national security trial relating to 47 pro-democracy figures.

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