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Exploiting the Linux Kernel

Posted by Sander_Marechal on · 3 comments
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In Linux you run processes in two different modes of execution. There is userspace (aka user mode) which you run your everyday applications, like Firefox, Pidgin, irssi. From the kernel’s point of view, this is unprivileged mode, meaning user space applications don’t have access to hardware, or bits of the system critical to its function. The next mode is kernelspace, in this mode a process runs in privileged mode, giving it access to hardware and low-level system processes. In this article I show how to write a kernel module.

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Comments (3)

herzeleid ·
Oh wow, so it is possible, for someone with root shell access on a linux system with development tools, to modify the kernel in various ways.

hmm, but then again, if an attacker has somehow gotten root on your system in the first place, you're already pwned.

Bob_Robertson ·
> an attacker has ... root on your system..., you're already pwned.

That would seem the very definition of "pwned".

Sander_Marechal Story submitter ·
The idea behind it is probably that you build it on one computer, then (try to) execute it at another.

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