this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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It's Open Source! (lemmy.dbzer0.com)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Not discrediting Open Source Software, but nothing is 100% safe.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

As a packager, I totally relate to this: we generally don't have the resources to follow the upstream development of the projects we rely on, let alone audit all the changes they make between releases. Open source software still has security advantages — we can communicate directly with the maintainers, backport security fixes and immediately release them to users, fix bugs that affect the distribution, etc. — but I agree that it's not a silver bullet.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have never. But someone has.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Everyone thinks this, so no one does it.

It's like the bystander effect.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Depends on the software, you can bet your ass people are auditing the Linux kernel every day.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

We can't but we can shit post at light speed if something fishy is discovered.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Ahh the old motte and bailey doctrine.

FOSS is superior even for an end user like me. It only fails when corporations are allowed to "embrace, extend, and extinguish" them.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also, recompile the source code yourself if you think the author is pulling a fast one on you.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Even audited source code is not safe. Supply-chain attacks are possible. A lot of times, there's nothing guaranteeing the audited code is the code that's actually running.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

im in this image and i dont like it

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

IDK why, but this had me imagining someone adding malicious code to a project, but then also being highly proactive with commenting his additions for future developers.

"Here we steal the user's identity and sell it on the black market for a tidy sum. Using these arguments..."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

No, but someone knows how and does. If there's something bad, there'll be a big stink.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"I don't care about free speech because I have nothing to say." Doofus.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (11 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here is my quick guide to audit code.

Step one. Google is the code safe.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Real lol, just as we trust private companies to fix their stuff we trust strangers on the internet to fix their stuff

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Random strangers are more trustworthy, because they're most likely users like you are.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Heartbleed is the only counter example anyone needs to know that open source isn't perfect. Intelligence agencies were likely sucking up encrypted traffic because nobody was paying attention to the most commonly used TLS library in the world

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Ha! It's not just whether you know how but whether you actually do it.

I remember one a few years back, a fairly large project (I don't remember the name though), very active community but no one LOOKED. That's part of the problem.

Still the best option imho

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I think that new 1 billion token AI paper that just came out is going to be auditing all code for us instantly before downloading it. Its going to revolutionize security in open source. Probably a business opportunity there.

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