Who!
The Saint Louis Linux Users Group (STLLUG) is a non-profit, volunteer group that provides education, information and/or support for Linux users.
What!
ONLINE Sessions
TOPIC: The XZ hack
Presenter: Andrew Denner
The XZ hack ( and what it means to you ) slides
The backdoor in xz and liblzma is a serious near miss that thankfully did not make it into most production Linux distributions and could have been far worse if it hadn't been caught by a developer noticing his ssh login took an extra half a second. This hack is an impressive long con by someone who had been given maintainer status in the tool. We will cover how it worked from a high level, how it almost was a far more serious issue than it is, and what it means for the FOSS world. ( Also why this issue is causing me to loose sleep over it. )
(This was noted in an ArsTechnica article on March 29 (ie ~ 20 days ago.) Same day, stlLUG members were posting it in our DISCUSS email-list. On April 11, there was a ~5min on-air interview with the MicroSoft engineer who discovered it, including comments about open-src vs closed-src. This interview was on the general public's NPR radio. The backdoor seems to have been loose in the public since at least Feb 2023?) CVE-2024-3094
BIO:
Andrew Denner is a Senior Scientific Computing Software Developer at Corteva Agriscience and the president of the Central Iowa Linux Users Group. When not computing he enjoys camping in his 1994 Pace Arrow Camper with his wife and 15 month old son.
SLUUG Sponsored meetings in the STL Metro Area
Click here if you do not see mini-calendar belowMonthly Meetings
This Saint Louis MO, STL Linux Users Group (STLLUG) meets monthly to learn and talk about Linux. To avoid back-to-back meetings, this GNU/Linux Users Group usually holds its meetings ( eight days after ) on the second Thursday after the monthly meeting of the Saint Louis Unix Users Group (SLUUG). Eight days after would either be the third Thursday or the fourth Thursday of each month.
These meetings are free, public and open to all.
We begin gathering about 6:00PM to test microphones, screen sharing and webcams. At 6:30PM we start with introductions, announcements, current events of interest, and a general CALL-FOR-HELP segment. Then we will go into the presentation of our main topic, sometime after or around 6:45PM.
A SLUUG Special Interest Group
STLLUG is loosely affiliated with the St. Louis Unix Users Group (SLUUG), as one of its Special Interest Groups (SIG). Under SLUUG care, web page support is provided. Individual membership dues, fees or other charges are NOT required. These meetings are free, public and open to all.
Where!
When!
Thursday, April 18th, 2024
from 6:30PM till 9:00PM Central Standard Time (CST) UTC-06:00
We will open the remote session at about 6:00 PM CST, so that you can join early to test your microphone, screen and video sharing.
Next scheduled meeting dates
- 2024
- 2024-04-18 TOPIC: The XZ hack ( and what it means to you )
- 2024-05-16 TOPIC: To Be Determined Offer to talk!
- 2024-06-20 TOPIC: To Be Determined Offer to talk!
SLUUG Annual Meeting and Elections
As required by SLUUG By-Laws, a required annual meeting was held 14 February 2024. Attending any two SLUUG sponsored meetings in calendar year 2023 qualified members to vote. Mail in balloting was held thru out February. That resulted in Ken Johnson and Sean Twiehaus being elected to our Board of Governors. James Conroy continues as Chairman of the Saint Louis Linux Users Group.Past meetings
SLUUG has been meeting continuously since July 1992.STLLINUX has been meeting continuously since July 1995.
Other independent, loosely affiliated SLUUG sponsored groups:
Contact us if you have a presentation you would like to have considered for selection.
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