

The Depenguinator, version 2.0 - cperciva
http://www.daemonology.net/blog/2008-01-29-depenguinator-2.0.html

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cperciva
This may not be useful for answering the "hacked a (non-computer) system"
question on the YC application form, but I think a script which can run on a
linux system and construct a bootable FreeBSD image qualifies as a cool hack
nonetheless.

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idea
Want to try my Exorcist script version 6.66 that turns a FreeBSD system into a
Solaris system?

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cperciva
Not particularly, but I love the idea. The depenguinator isn't really about
making people switch from linux to FreeBSD; rather, it's about allowing people
to install FreeBSD where they otherwise would not be able to -- most commonly,
on servers rented from cheap dedicated server hosting companies which support
linux but don't support FreeBSD.

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aswanson
Did they ever fix the security flaw you found?

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cperciva
Who is "they", and which security flaw are you talking about? I've found
several over the years...

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aswanson
They being Linus,et al, and the flaw being the one referenced here:
<http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/17/201253>.

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cperciva
Some linux distributions disabled hyperthreading by default as I recommended;
others didn't. Some cryptographic libraries have fixed some of the more
obvious ways that this can be exploited, but no library is completely immune.
Intel hasn't done useful at all.

