• Just a five days ago I wrote this:
  
  It's been a while since we've had a big tech news story. No disasters, no miracles. Things haven't suddenly gotten better - or at least, not much, and they haven't gotten drastically worse.
  
  Well.
  
  A Linux exploit has been found that instantly grants root access to local users on most Linux versions released since 2017.  (Tom's Hardware)

  Although it's not a zero-day and the kernel has already gotten a patch, the short disclosure window gave distro makers relatively little time to react.  Affected variants include (but aren't limited to) Ubuntu 24 (version 26 was just released last week), RHEL 10, Suse 16, and Amazon Linux 2023. Even Windows' WSL2 is affected, and all it takes is 732 bytes to do it.

  Fortunately for me, only one server was potentially vulnerable, and that one didn't have the affected module loaded, and I've now disabled it completely.
  
  But even more sysadmins are having a bad day.
  
  
  
• Like the ones at Canonical - the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux release - whose corporate servers are mostly dead right now thanks to a massive ongoing DDOS attack.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  If you're already installed Ubuntu you are still able to load updates - like the patch for the so-called CopyFail bug mentioned above - from the numerous mirrors, which don't seem to be affected at all.
  
  
  
• My own server decided to drop dead, completely unrelated to all the other drama going on in the Linux world.
  
  Fortunately I set it up years ago to make migrations easy - and to keep backups separate from the system disk.  But it still took a few hours to get it all working smoothly.
  
  The silverfish lining is that I've wanted to do this for months but it never hit the top of my to do list.  I already had a new server, twice the size of the old one and actually cheaper.  So that's where we are now.

• The Pentagon has reached deals with all the major AI providers except one.  (Reuters)
  
  You probably won't guess which one, but it rhymes with Banthropic.
  
  
  
• Spotify meanwhile is adding "verified organic human" badges to artist pages.  (BBC)
  
  Because a majority of music being uploaded is already AI-generated.
  
  But not a majority of music people listen to.
  
  
  
• The Oscars have also declared war on the clanker menace.  (Hollywood Reporter)
  
  If the skinsuit doesn't fit you might as well quit.
  
  
  
• Apple's Mac Mini and Mac Studio are disappearing fast at both the high and low ends.  (WCCFTech)
  
  The Mac Studio with 512GB of RAM was first to go, and now the 256GB Mac Mini has disappeared as well.
  
  That's 256GB of SSD, mind you, which was not a lot even in 2017.
  
  
  

Top Story

• CPanel, a web hosting software suite used by 70 million sites worldwide, had a security hole big enough to drive a Kenworth through without needing to check for clearance. (Bleeping Computer)
  
  And people were reportedly trying to exploit in February. And succeeding in March.
  
  It was patched last night.
  
  Lots of sysadmins having a bad day right now.

Tech News

• If you're playing the new pirate game Windrose, you might want to stop before your SSD explodes. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Players have reported that the game writes 30MB of date per second to disk.
  
  Constantly.
  
  Over 100GB per hour.
  
  And SSDs have a finite lifespan under constant write load.
  
  
  
• Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are planning a combined capital expenditure of $725 billion this year. (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Which used to be a lot, but that was long ago and in another country.
  
  
  
• How to get 10Gb Ethernet working at home. (Giles Thomas)
  
  Step One: Decide 2.5Gb is fine.
  
  
  
• Stripe has a new digital wallet for sharing with AI agents and other idiot children. (Tech Crunch)
  
  You are asked to confirm every purchase before anything goes through so they can't run amok and drain your bank account.
  
  
  
• Profits at Samsung's memory division are up 49% over the same period last year. (WCCFTech)
  
  Oh, my mistake. They're up 49 times over the same period last year.
  
  
  
• Don't talk about the goblin war. (Ars Technica)
  
  AI agents are like profoundly autistic children, except that you can switch them off.

Musical Interlude