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OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

nvd.nist.gov

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Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#61

Post by hulitu »

acdha wrote: post #56
kevincox wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is quite possible that Linux is the bigger target so it gets more focus. Vulnerabilities there are generally considered more valuable and notable. It would be very difficult to use these numbers to get a meaningful "more secure" stance as there are tons of variables.

Linux also has a ton of extra functionality so I think you’d also have to do some adjustment for “as a user would I be at risk?” versus “can I be a user because it supports my needs?” Some of that would be unfavorable for many users (e.g. a Linux user who is exposed due to a network protocol or file system they’ll never use) but that’s certainly not true of every feature.

Linux also has a ton of bloat. Configuring your own kernel has become an exercise in frustration because documentation is worse "There is no help for this kernel option" and a lot of things are enabled "by default".

Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#63

Post by TacticalCoder »

Tiberium wrote: post #4

Seems to be found as a part of Patch The Planet [0] which is basically OpenAI giving model access and Trail of Bits using them to find vulnerabilities in OSS projects. [0] https://openai.com/index/patch-the-planet/

Sidenote but... I read this on that link:

dnsmasq: Codex Security independently identified vulnerable patterns corresponding to four of the six dnsmasq CVEs later fixed in 2.92rel2: CVE-2026-4890 (opens in a new window), CVE-2026-4891 (opens in a new window), CVE-2026-4892 (opens in a new window), and CVE-2026-517

dnsmasq has had so many freaking security holes in 2025 and 2026 that atm I decided to just remove that thing from all my machines.

Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#64

Post by ptx »

anonym29 wrote: post #6
uticus wrote: post #5

> Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time! https://www.openbsd.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenBSD#Security_record

LPE (to root) is serious, but it's not a remote hole.

Is this functionality accessible from sandboxed processes? That would make a remote hole much more dangerous when one is found, anyway. The CVE seems to concern SysV semaphores and the pledge(2) man page doesn't seem to mention those.

Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#65

Post by beanjuiceII »

trashb wrote: post #53

One bug found is a testament to the great diligence and culture around security of OpenBSD. Especially if you take into account the amount of resources they have been able to achieve this with.

one bug is all it takes

Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#68

Post by poly2it »

poly2it wrote: post #14

Would Rust have made this issue impossible by construction? I know Linus has spoken about Rust's promises about memory safety not being equivalently applicable in the kernel domain, so I would be curious to hear any kernel developer's perspectives.

I often refrain from commenting about meta-issues on HN, but I'm particularly annoyed by the downvotes on this question of mine. What is this forum for, if not for this exchange between makers? I've noticed downvotes on questions are an oft occuring pattern. I think the comments on HN should house more than self-contained absolute statements.

Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#69

Post by Analemma_ »

beanjuiceII wrote: post #65
trashb wrote: post #53

One bug found is a testament to the great diligence and culture around security of OpenBSD. Especially if you take into account the amount of resources they have been able to achieve this with.

one bug is all it takes

LPEs do need to be fixed, but for most people it's not a threat model they need to worry about.

Re: OpenBSD has a use-after-free allowing local privilege escalation to root

#70

Post by cratermoon »

sunshine-o wrote: post #59
trashb wrote: post #53

One bug found is a testament to the great diligence and culture around security of OpenBSD. Especially if you take into account the amount of resources they have been able to achieve this with.

Exactly, the entire AI industry has been trying to create an AI powered security arm race. I am not necessarily blaming them. Hard to know how much has been thrown into this but I would bet a lot. So far I have been very surprised we haven't been flooded by those type of announcements. If you look you will always find something and OpenBSD is the top price.

They are throwing tokens at codebases and finding mostly vulnerabilities in cases that have not been worth the limited time and effort of the chronically underfunded and understaffed professional groups. There’d be a lot more value in the companies giving the money they spend on their synthetic text extruders to the organizations doing quality security research work.
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