The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation patches

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by preordained on Monday January 01, 2018 @12:33PM (#16046982)

If you're taking off for vacation and forgot to lock your door, the best thing would be to go back and lock it. If you couldn't get the door locked right away for some reason, you probably wouldn't want the news of your unlocked door broadcast through your neighborhood...

Obscurity actually is a layer of security. The mistake is is when people are dependent upon it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by syshum on Monday January 01, 2018 @01:33PM (#16047278)

Your analogy is severely flawed as my door lock is under my control and I know about the risks (i.e it is unlocked) so I can take the steps I need to mitigate that risk

For your analogy to apply here it would be the manufacturer of the door lock having a master key stolen then not telling anyone about it until they have a new lock for you to buy from them, in the case of a lock I would want to know that the lock is useless even if there was not solution so I can mitigate the risk no simply continue locking it believing it to be secure

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by neerajsi on Monday January 01, 2018 @05:54PM (#16048508)

Locksmiths can get into many locks that people use to secure their houses. That doesn't mean that I want them to share that knowledge widely.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by pixl97 on Monday January 01, 2018 @06:30PM (#16048669)

Eh, that information is shared widely. Some decent googl-fu will get you the information you want.

The difference is a lock-pick can't exploit 20,000 doors in 20 minutes.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by hintss on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @03:43AM (#16059462)

There are definitely bypass tools for common lock mechanisms, whose mechanism of operation isn't readily google-able.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by pixl97 on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @01:56PM (#16063901)

And you still have to visit those, one at a time, in person where things like getting shot could occur.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by nske on Wednesday January 03, 2018 @06:01AM (#16060038)

I want them to. This puts more pressure for locks to improve and makes it less likely that I trust my current lock.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by syshum on Monday January 01, 2018 @06:42PM (#16048717)

I see so now we are advocating for the suppression of Speech... Because how else are you going to prevent that? Pretty sure there are 100's of youtube vidoes on lock picking, you want to ban all of them?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by jstanley on Monday January 01, 2018 @01:30PM (#16047265)

But this isn't one persons' door that's unlocked. This is more like a company that shipped a faulty door lock and is trying to keep it secret until they can ship fixed doors to everybody.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by Splines on Monday January 01, 2018 @03:17PM (#16047809)

But wouldn't you want to know if your door is faulty, so you can either replace your door, delay your vacation until the new door arrives, or beef up your security system?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The mysterious case of the Linux Page Table Isolation pat... by jstanley on Monday January 01, 2018 @03:56PM (#16048002)

Absolutely!

[ Parent | on HN ]