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A comment on Inception: Leaking the root hash from /etc./shadow on AMD Zen 4 [video]. Parent comment

Re:Inception: Leaking the root hash from /etc./shadow on AMD... by K0nserv on Tuesday August 08, 2023 @12:37PM (#37051704)
With the root hash you can crack the root password using tools like John The Ripper[0]. More generally, I assume, this exploit can be used to read any arbitrary files on the system, bypassing regular access control, and plenty of other stuff you aren't supposed to be able to do as a non-privileged user.

0: https://www.openwall.com/john/

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Re:Inception: Leaking the root hash from /etc./shadow on AMD... by rsaxvc on Tuesday August 08, 2023 @09:36PM (#37057744)
It seems like this would only allow reading memory resident for some other reason. Still bad, but I do not think it would allow directly reading files that weren't already in memory.

As for /etc/shadow, it would be loaded any time someone attempts to login, and might even stick around in the page cache...

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