603
Kinda sus... (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago by gigadadz@lemmy.world to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world
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The NSA, the original primary developer of SELinux, released the first version to the open source development community under the GNU GPL on December 22, 2000.[6] The software was merged into the mainline Linux kernel 2.6.0-test3, released on 8 August 2003. Other significant contributors include Red Hat, Network Associates, Secure Computing Corporation, Tresys Technology, and Trusted Computer Solutions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security-Enhanced_Linux

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[-] TootSweet@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago

So it would be pretty hard for them to hide a backdoor or something??

It happens, though.

[-] SnotFlickerman 25 points 2 days ago

This is also probably the reason why you lost your DARPA funding, they more than likely caught wind of the fact that those backdoors were present and didn't want to create any derivative products based upon the same.

Though this implies that the Department of Defense doesn't want to use compromised tools, since DARPA is DoD. NSA is also DoD.

[-] peoplebeproblems@midwest.social 8 points 2 days ago

They wouldn't want to use or derive any compromised software themselves. They would want any adversaries to have it implemented.

[-] Badabinski@kbin.earth 9 points 2 days ago

I did some follow-up research and found that subsequent audits found no backdoors. They're either incredibly sneaky, or the person making these claims wasn't being entirely honest.

[-] emeralddawn45@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 2 days ago

Do you know of any good comprehensive followup to this? A quick search shows me lots of outdated info and inconclusive articles. Do you know if they conclusively found anything or if there is a good writeup on the whole situation?

[-] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I don't have such a source, but the Cybersecurity community throw accusations around easily, and are loathe to ever bless any software as completely innocent - which is a good thing.

When the accusations stop, the issue has either been addressed (typical outcome), or the product owner was written off by the Cybersecurity community as a lost cause (rare, but it happens).

this post was submitted on 07 Jan 2025
603 points (100.0% liked)

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