Linux Kernel Bug Patched

Linux has patched a dangerous security flaw in its Linux Kernel.

The flaw could have allowed hackers to access the root directory through X server if exploited, tech news site Softpedia reported on Wednesday.

The flaw was discovered by Rafal Wojtczuk, a senior researcher at Invisible Things Lab (ITL), a Polish security research company, while working on GUI virtualisation for the company’s operating system.

The vulnerability has been described by the researcher in more details in a paper titled, "Exploiting large memory management vulnerabilities in Xorg server running on Linux."

“The attack allows a (unpriviliged) user process that has access to the X server (so, any GUI application) to unconditionally escalate to root (but again, it doesn't take advantage of any bug in the X server!),” said  Joanna Rutkowska, founder of ITL in a blogpost.

According to Rutkowska, the flaw, if exploited could spread through an infected PDF file and reach the root directory of a system defying all kinds of security barrels posed by Linux easily, eventually taking over the entire system.