Linux "NULL pointer dereferece" in the News...

[Rahul Sundaram]

On 07/19/2009 10:29 PM, Tom Horsley wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Jul 2009 09:47:44 -0700
> Daniel B. Thurman wrote:
> 
>> Is this "old news", rehashed (news) hype, or what?
> 
> Sounds like a compiler bug to me. If the compiler is removing
> a null pointer check for a pointer which could in fact be
> null, then clearly the optimizer has gone off the deep end.
> 
> I do love that it only happens on systems with selinux or
> pulseaudio, both of which I eradicate to the fullest extent
> possible as soon as I finish the initial install :-).

Unlucky for you as the article is completely wrong on both claims. It is
true however that SELinux could have prevented that problem if not for a
policy bug

http://blog.namei.org/2009/07/18/a-brief-note-on-the-2630-kernel-null-pointer-vulnerability/

Rahul