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Modified floppies can crash Linux
From: kilobyte () mimuw edu pl (KiloByte)
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 16:39:45 +0100
Hi! While playing with file allocation tables, I noticed that if a FAT volume (eg. a floppy) with looped allocation chain is being read under Linux, the system stops responding and cannot be recovered to a working state without a hardware rebooting. This bug is not-so-useful for performing Denial-Of-Service attacks (if an evildoer managed to put a floppy into your computer, why won't he just press the power switch?), although he can leave a modified floppy on your desk. It is sufficient to just ls that floppy. Sample exploit is at http://rainbow.mimuw.edu.pl/~ab171958/FAT.html#Linux I tested this exploit on kernel versions 2.0.30, 2.0.31 and 2.0.32, it always works. /-----------------------\ Hiroshima'45 | kilobyte () mimuw edu pl | Chernobyl'86 \-----------------------/ Windows'95 http://rainbow.mimuw.edu.pl/~ab171958/
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