Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys • Hacker News Board

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#21

Post by PurpleFoxy » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:33 AM UTC

bionade24 wrote: post #14

gambiting wrote: post #7

Does anyone know why lockscreens in Linux have been such a joke? I remember trying Ubuntu couple years ago and when waking up my laptop it would show me my entire desktop with all the information displayed right there in the open for about 10-20 seconds before suddenly engaging the lockscreen. All you had to do was close the lid and open it again and you could just copy whatever was on the screen before the lock scre…

Because X11 is such a joke. The problem is solved by wlroots and layer-shell, other Wayland compositors probably have similar things. Swaylock works 100%ly reliable until now (For me). I had problems with every other X11 screenlocker I used in the past. My unusual setup with a docking station and two monitors on it often caused crazy bugs. Edit: For me stuff

It seems like most of the complaints I see about distros have actually been solved problems for years but held back by poor distro defaults.

I have been recommending fedora to people for a while because their defaults are far more modern and sane rather than clinging on to python 2 and X11

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#22

Post by greypowerOz » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

warning: cat-like typing detected

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#23

Post by boblivion » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:34 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #7

Does anyone know why lockscreens in Linux have been such a joke? I remember trying Ubuntu couple years ago and when waking up my laptop it would show me my entire desktop with all the information displayed right there in the open for about 10-20 seconds before suddenly engaging the lockscreen. All you had to do was close the lid and open it again and you could just copy whatever was on the screen before the lock scre…

https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/toolkits.html Good post on the topic

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#24

Post by segfaultbuserr » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:35 AM UTC

diegoperini wrote: post #5

Step 1: Gather timings of key presses from a lot of kids. 2: Use ML to learn how to simulate it. 3: Sell it as a service, labeling it KaaS. 4: Profit, then go to jail because of a misunderstanding. But seriously, is there such a tool to automate this?

People have been fuzzing user interfaces since the 80s. It was used for developing MacPaint and MacWrite in Apple's original Macintosh. Quote Wikipedia:

> In 1983, Steve Capps at Apple developed "The Monkey", a tool that would generate random inputs for classic Mac OS applications, such as MacPaint [0]. The figurative "monkey" refers to the infinite monkey theorem which states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will eventually type out the entire works of Shakespeare. In the case of testing, the monkey would write the particular sequence of inputs that will trigger a crash.

Read the story here:

https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Monkey_Lives.txt

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#25

Post by mici » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:37 AM UTC

boblivion wrote: post #23

gambiting wrote: post #7

Does anyone know why lockscreens in Linux have been such a joke? I remember trying Ubuntu couple years ago and when waking up my laptop it would show me my entire desktop with all the information displayed right there in the open for about 10-20 seconds before suddenly engaging the lockscreen. All you had to do was close the lid and open it again and you could just copy whatever was on the screen before the lock scre…

https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/toolkits.html Good post on the topic

This link does not show what you think it will show (pretty much NSFW).

The thread was linked below (or above, to this same parent), or see: https://web.archive.org/web/20210116101222/https://www.jwz.o...

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#26

Post by dluan » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:37 AM UTC

Something about this exchange was extremely pleasing and calming to read, maybe I'm irony poisoned from overly loud social media. But this was so nice to read through.

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#27

Post by gambiting » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:38 AM UTC

boblivion wrote: post #23

gambiting wrote: post #7

Does anyone know why lockscreens in Linux have been such a joke? I remember trying Ubuntu couple years ago and when waking up my laptop it would show me my entire desktop with all the information displayed right there in the open for about 10-20 seconds before suddenly engaging the lockscreen. All you had to do was close the lid and open it again and you could just copy whatever was on the screen before the lock scre…

https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/toolkits.html Good post on the topic

Uhm, this link doesn't lead where you think it does. Or the owner of the website is specifically redirecting HN traffic.

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#28

Post by zwp » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:38 AM UTC

radicalbyte wrote: post #3

idiocrat wrote: post #2

Well, the original definition of the word "hacking". Hacking on keyboard to exploit keypress timings, key combinations and key buffer overflows.

The original definition of "hacking" was "hacking code together". Move fast and break things. There are a lot of us OG and TNG hackers here. It's kind of the SV spirit. "Cracker" is the term used commonly - as in "crack the nut"; i.e. gain access to systems / break copy protection etc. Then you have the phone guys, the phreakers, whistling for free calls.

> original definition of "hacking" was "hacking code together"

Hmm. Right spirit but not so much "hacking code together" going on at MIT's Tech Model Railroad Club in 1958.

"a project undertaken or a product built not solely to fulfill some constructive goal but with some wild pleasure taken in mere involvement, was called a `hack'".

(Steven Levy, "Hackers").

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#29

Post by minxomat » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:38 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #7

Does anyone know why lockscreens in Linux have been such a joke? I remember trying Ubuntu couple years ago and when waking up my laptop it would show me my entire desktop with all the information displayed right there in the open for about 10-20 seconds before suddenly engaging the lockscreen. All you had to do was close the lid and open it again and you could just copy whatever was on the screen before the lock scre…

Still happening on Linux mint for me.

Re: Kids find a security flaw in Linux Mint by mashing keys

#30

Post by f1refly » Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 9:39 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #7

Does anyone know why lockscreens in Linux have been such a joke? I remember trying Ubuntu couple years ago and when waking up my laptop it would show me my entire desktop with all the information displayed right there in the open for about 10-20 seconds before suddenly engaging the lockscreen. All you had to do was close the lid and open it again and you could just copy whatever was on the screen before the lock scre…

For x lockscreens this is solved by making sure the lock launches _before_ the system is suspended, I'm not sure how many distros do it like that though.