News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by giobox on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @03:48PM (#15801399)
Responsible Disclosure is widely regarded as a good practice in these situations. Blame isn't the key issue - fixing the problem quickly and safely is. Widespread disclosure before Apple have even a chance to respond in a timely fashion is inherently unsafe.

You would hope the self-described twitter bio "Agile Software Craftsman" might have thought about this a little before tweeting.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsible_disclosure

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by dsp1234 on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @03:59PM (#15801545)
The poster practiced Full Disclosure, which is also a valid disclosure policy.

Since we're just making up statements, I guarantee that Apple would never voluntarily disclose this issue if it was reported privately. So Full Disclosure is the only way to put Apple's feet to the fire, as it's the only way in which this issue would have had any visibility whatsoever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_disclosure_(computer_secu...

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by SahAssar on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @04:55PM (#15802210)
Private Disclosure does not prevent you from publicly disclosing it after a grace period.
Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by falcolas on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @05:35PM (#15802544)
What grace period is appropriate for a 0 day root login vulnerability?

This guy is, with all probability, not the first one to have found it.

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by simplify on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @06:37PM (#15803076)
If there was a vulnerability that allowed anyone to open your car and drive off with it, you wouldn't care if he was the first to find it or not. You'd only care about it getting fixed before anyone else knows about it.

I'm not sure what length grace period is appropriate, though.

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by cwkoss on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @07:39PM (#15803455)
If there was a vulnerability that allowed anyone to open my car, I'd want to known ASAP, because I wouldn't trust the manufacturer to provide a remedy quickly enough that eliminates my risk.

Same applies for Apple. No reason to believe this guy was the first one to find this exploit, we only know he was the first one to publicize it.

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by simplify on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @12:22PM (#15808702)
> I wouldn't trust the manufacturer to provide a remedy quickly enough that eliminates my risk.

True, and this is where the analogy breaks down, since they would not be able to remotely send over a fix. But Apple would, and apparently now has.

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by greedo on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @08:26PM (#15803667)
To be pedantic, this isn't a 0day root login vuln, but a priv escalation vuln.
Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by Bud on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @04:09PM (#15801668)
On what basis do you "guarantee" this?
Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by JadeNB on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @06:34PM (#15803056)
> On what basis do you "guarantee" this?

I think on the (probably intentionally snarky) basis of "just making up statements":

> Since we're just making up statements, I guarantee that Apple would never voluntarily disclose this issue if it was reported privately.

Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by eyelidlessness on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @05:22PM (#15802433)
It's used as an idiom, meaning roughly "I have total confidence".
Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by lawnchair_larry on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @04:35PM (#15802011)
"Responsible Disclosure" is a term rejected by the industry as a loaded phrase that favors vendors, instead preferring the term Coordinated Disclosure. Even so, reasonable professionals still disagree that this is the best option, in a debate that has existed for decades, so it's by no means settled as the "proper" way.
Re:macOS High Sierra: Anyone can login as “root” with empty ... by 5ilv3r on Tuesday November 28, 2017 @06:35PM (#15803057)
Do you have any good history on this you can link to? Sounds very interesting.