Fedora 21 Out of the Gate

 Linux  Comments Off on Fedora 21 Out of the Gate
Dec 092014
 

Fedora 21 debuted today and the upgrade is available in three flavors – Workstation (previously known as the desktop version), Server and Cloud.

The three versions are built on a common base that uses the same packages for kernel, RPM, Yum, systemd, Anaconda, etc.

Fedora Workstation

Fedora developers are touting Workstation 21 as “a more polished and targeted system” than previous versions.

It features an improved Software Installer and featured applications, support for high definition displays and the Wayland display server technology.

Enhancements to the terminal application include support for transparent backgrounds, automatic title updates to let users identify different terminals, a toggle to disable shortcuts and the ability to search for terminals by name in the GNOME desktop overview.

The Workstation version is aimed at students, hobbyists and developers on laptops and PCs.

Fedora Server

Targeted at users looking to deploy a Linux web server, file server, database server, or as a platform for an Infrastructure-as-a-Service, Fedora 21 Server features three new server management technologies – Rolekit (in an early implementation avatar), Cockpit and OpenLMI. Continue reading »

Even Netstat Can’t Find Turla Linux Trojan

 Linux, Security  Comments Off on Even Netstat Can’t Find Turla Linux Trojan
Dec 092014
 

Until this morning, like countless others I too labored under the blissful illusion that Netstat was the panacea for all my Linux security concerns.

Alas, that feeling of comfort has disappeared since the discovery of an extremely stealthy Netstat-defying Turla Linux trojan.

The dangers of the Linux Turla trojan including hidden network communications, arbitrary remote command execution and remote management should send a shiver up the spines of server administrators.

The Turla trojan was previously known to attack Windows based computers only via a hard to detect rootkit.

Turla Strikes Penguin

Security experts describe the Linux Turla trojan as a C/C++ executable statically linked against multiple libraries.

It seems much of the trojan’s code is based on public sources combined with some functionalities from the attackers.

Early analysis of this Linux trojan suggests that the Turla cd00r-based malware maintains stealth without needing elevated privileges while running arbitrary remote commands.

To the great distress of Linux system administrators, the trojan can’t be discovered via the popular command line Netstat tool that displays network connections for TCP (incoming and outgoing).

The folks at Kaspersky Labs say the trojan uses techniques that don’t require root access. This means it can more freely run on more victim hosts.

Apparently, even if a regular user with limited privileges launches it, the Turla Linux trojan can continue to intercept incoming packets and run incoming commands on the system.

Turla Linux – Key Features

Executable Characteristics

ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), statically linked, for GNU/Linux 2.2.5, stripped

Statically Linked Libraries
glibc2.3.2 – the GNU C library
openssl v0.9.6 – an older OpenSSL library
libpcap – tcpdump’s network capture library

Command & Control
Hardcoded C&C, known Turla activity: news-bbc.podzone.org
The domain has the following pDNS IP: 80.248.65.183

Easy Upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1 ‘Rebecca’

 Linux  Comments Off on Easy Upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1 ‘Rebecca’
Dec 042014
 

There’s now an easy upgrade path for Linux Mint 17 ‘Qiana’ users (whether they’re running Cinnamon or Mate desktops) to move up to the new Linux Mint 17.1 aka Rebecca via the Update Manager.

Here are the steps to upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1:

1. Launch “Update Manager” by clicking on its icon (see bottom right of your screen)
2. Upgrade “Update Manager” to the latest version, i.e. 4.7.7. On my Linux Mint 17 computer, the older version was 4.6.7
3. After the “Update Manager” is upgraded to 4.7.7, click on Edit in the top menu bar and select the option to “Update to Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca” to start the upgrade
4. Follow the instructions on the screen
5. Reboot your computer

Important: Be prudent and backup your key documents and files to an external drive before launching the upgrade process.

Linux Mint developer Clem says the upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1 will not revert user settings, data or third party installations to a default configuration. Also, users who have added other PPAs to their Linux Mint systems don’t have to worry since the PPAs will stay intact even after the upgrade.

Linux Mint 17.1 is a long term support release (support guaranteed until 2019).

Note on Kernel

The kernel is not tied to the upgrade to Linux Mint 17.1 and will not change. Continue reading »

Linux Mint 17.1 ‘Rebecca’ Passes QA, Inching Toward Release

 Linux  Comments Off on Linux Mint 17.1 ‘Rebecca’ Passes QA, Inching Toward Release
Nov 272014
 

The upgrade to my favorite Linux distribution Linux Mint 17 is getting close to release.

Key Linux Mint developers have disclosed that the ISO images for Cinnamon and MATE editions of Linux Mint 17.1 “Rebecca” have passed QA (quality assurance) testing and approved for a stable release.

So expect the release to go public in the coming days.

The few users running Linux Mint 17.1 Release Candidate don’t have to wait for the stable release or reinstall. They can just use the Update Manager to install any level 1 update that they haven’t installed already.

For the majority that are running Linux Mint 17, they too do not need to reinstall the entire operating system. “Upgrading will be easy, fully supported and it will be an opt-in (i.e. you will have the choice to upgrade to 17.1 but also to keep 17 as it is),” promised Linux Mint developer Clem.

Related Posts:
Linux Mint 17.1 ‘Rebecca’ RC Ready

Ubuntu 14.10 Vivid Vervet – Time Line

 Linux  Comments Off on Ubuntu 14.10 Vivid Vervet – Time Line
Nov 252014
 

As the number of users running Ubuntu on their desktops and notebooks expands, interest in the distro’s upgrades has also increased.

The next major version of Ubuntu, version 15.04 aka Vivid Vervet is scheduled for release in April 2015.

Ubuntu developers have set forth the following time line for Vivid Verdet.

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet – Key Dates

* November 27, 2014 – Feature Definition Freeze
* December 18, 2014 – Alpha 1
* January 22, 2015 – Alpha 2
* February 28, 2015 – Beta 1
* March 26, 2015 – Final Beta
* April 9, 2015 – Kernel Freeze
* April 16, 2015 – Final Freeze, ReleaseCandidate
* April 23, 2015 – Final Release

The current version of Ubuntu is 14.10 aka Utopic Unicorn.

Popular Linux distributions like Linux Mint, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Element OS etc are based on Ubuntu.

Holla, Fedora 21 Hitting Final Freeze

 Linux  Comments Off on Holla, Fedora 21 Hitting Final Freeze
Nov 172014
 

So what if more user-friendly distros like Linux Mint and Ubuntu have stolen Fedora’s thunder with Linux newbies.

Still, there is a considerable Fedora base out there eagerly waiting for the next big release – Fedora 21.

By all indications, Fedora 21 should be out by early December 2014.

Unless something goes terribly awry, mark your calendar for December 9 as the big day.

Code Freeze

Earlier today, Fedora developer Stephen Gallagher announced “Final Freeze” on the distro’s devel mailing list:

[T]omorrow we go into the two-week Final Freeze for Fedora 21. That means that you need to have all of the packages that you want to see land in Fedora 21 submitted for stable by the end of the day *today*. After that point, we will initiate the Final Freeze Policy, where you will need to request a Freeze Exception (or be fixing a
Blocker bug) in order to get changes into the Final release. Anything else will be deferred to the [updates] repo for release day.

The Fedora 21 upgrade has been in beta since November 4, 2014.

The Fedora people are recommending FedUp (Fedora Upgrader) to upgrade from one release to the next.

Fedora 21 – Three Flavors

Fedora 21 comes in three flavors – Fedora Server, Fedora Workstation and Fedora Cloud.

The cloud version in turn comes in two sub-variants – Fedora Cloud Base Image and Fedora Atomic.

Targeted for use in OpenStack and Amazon EC2 environments, Fedora Cloud Image contains a minimal selection of RPMs plus cloud-init for boot-time configuration, and is the recommended cloud implementation of Fedora 21.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed on the deployable readiness of Fedora Atomic (a lean OS designed to run Docker containers) by December 9, 2014.

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