When the xz backdoor was discovered, I quickly uninstalled my Arch based setup with an infected version of the software and switched to a distro that shipped an older version (5.5 or 5.4 or something). I found an article which said that in 5.6.1-3 the backdoor was “fixed” by just not letting the malware part communicating with the vulnerable ssh related stuff and the actual malware is still there? (I didn’t understand 80% of the technical terms and abbreviations in it ok?) Like it still sounds kinda dangerous to me, especially since many experts say that we don’t know the other ways this malware can use (except for the ssh supply chain) yet. Is it true? Should I stick with the new distro for now or can I absolutely safely switch back and finally say that I use Arch btw again?

P. S. I do know that nothing is completely safe. Here I’m asking just about xz and libxzlk or whatever the name of that library is

EDIT: 69 upvotes. Nice

  • 520@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 months ago

    What they mean is if you are a affiliated with a national government. You might also be a target if you are very very rich.

    If you’re an average Joe, they probably won’t burn it on you.

    • The Doctor@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      It’s already burned by being discovered.

      And, never underestimate the utility of a large botnet.

    • ahal@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      He could be an average Joe who works in the IT department of a company a national government would be interested in.