Questions tagged [operating-systems]
The operating system is the software component that provides abstraction of physical hardware, and provides a generalized model for application software to execute without the need for specific hardware knowledge. Questions on the topic of operating system security should use this tag; you may also like to use one of the [windows], [linux] or [macos] tags.
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Can mobile hardware have backdoor access to camera, microphone that bypasses operating system?
I found out about AOSP variants such as Calyx, Graphene, etc. They promise increased security. I want to know if hardware backdoors can allow access to the camera, microphone, etc. and subsequently ...
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Filter CVEs by affected OS
Is it possible to filter CVEs by affected platform/OS?
Some sources do provide this, like exploit-db, but the main vulnerability source NVD, National Vulnerability Database, doesn't seem to have such ...
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OS/DB Hardening Checklist Drafting Process
We are looking into reviewing our organization OS/DB hardening checklist (done by predecessor). We're aware that there are various benchmarks out there like CIS & STIG to guide on that, and the ...
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What tool can I use to verify the output from Nmap? [closed]
With OS detection enabled I noticed that the device fingerprints is running something entirely wrong. Is there another tool that I can use that can verify since something looks odd?
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How does anti-cheat prevent mocking itself?
As far as I understand, usually the game anti-cheat runs in another process from the game client. This makes it obvious to try to simulate anti-cheat, for example, to replace it with your program, ...
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Where to find updated best practice on using unmaintained or legacy software on a patched OS?
I assume most of the security issues with old software are
that scripts or .exe will run against the bugs in the software.
and that the firmware on the device OS bugs aren't patched.
Or some parts of ...
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Supply chain risks for OS packages
The risks of supply chain attacks on software libraries is well documented, however, I have not seen much on OS packages/dependencies. How important is it to both 1) pin OS dependencies (apt,rpm,etc.) ...
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Should old versions of TLS be disabled at the OS level and the server level?
My environment has a variety of operating systems (Windows, Linux, etc.), servers and applications. Infrastructure scans are showing old versions of TLS that need to be disabled at the OS level, while ...
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Official, Up-to-date List of Supported Operating Systems (Windows, MacOs, Linux, etc.)
I am trying to find out-of-support operating systems in my environment via logs. I can query log data to get installed OS, but I need to compare that to what is currently supported. Ideally I would ...
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Can you configure Tripwire to produce an actual diff between modified files
I'm using the open source version of Tripwire on Ubuntu 22.04. Right now when a file is modified Tripwire will document this in the integrity check with an "Expected" vs "Observed" ...
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System audit of hardened device regarding certificate handling
I am tasked with auditing the default configuration (system configuration, default applications...) that is set for some computers before they are given to users.
Though I have never seen it anywhere, ...
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What type of attacks can be carried against an OS with FDE, if we assume OS and FDE are implemented correctly?
The question is mainly stated in the title. I was wondering what kind of attacks can be launched on such a setup, where someone has access to a running OS with locked screen (needs password for the ...
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Objectively, what can you do on kali that you can't do on a mac?
What is so special about kali?
Is there some suite that just run on kali and won't on other distros/mac?
Is it just marketed better to the infosec community?
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Should I worry about compromised firmware when reinstalling an OS?
I have a machine that I suspect to be compromised and am installing a new OS from a usb. I know that there have been cases of malware surviving this, and even BIOS-reflashing, and something about the ...
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How file deletion works?
If deleting files just removes the references then why not just delete the actual files instead of just removing the references?
Just removing the references leaves the file intact until it is ...
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How to harden a FOSS and gratis operating system?
I want to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu.
I understand that Ubuntu's1 security model is a bit different than that of Windows but I don't aim to ask about this particular OS, rather, in general, what ...
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How to realistically de-google an Android smartphone?
Smartphones have the options to selectively disable tracking in the settings menu. By visiting this menu, you can manually disable each application from having permission to access your private data ...
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Is it possible for malware to overwrite UEFI code when installing an operating system?
If the ISO file for an operating system is malicious, is it possible for it to overwrite UEFI code when booted (If secure boot is disabled)?
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What is it called when you only use a user account for a specific task in your OS?
I've noticed that people don't use a user account for a specific task;
I keep thinking the concept is called a "service account"
But it causes a lot of issues surrounding security; for ...
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What is the frequency of open security bugs in an operating system with increasing age?
I am having a discussion with friends and my point is that the older a feature-frozen operating system is, the fewer security bugs are left unpatched and therefore the cost for the company to fix them ...
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Detect bruteforce attempts on Windows 10 (without event log)
I'm currently working on a software project as part of a course on Operating Systems Security and one of the features in my project is to detect bruteforce attacks on Windows hosts.
I know that I can ...
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Child processes vs microservices for communication between components
This is a question for operating system security experts.
We have an application using one platform/language, and it has to integrate with a library that uses another platform/language. There is no ...
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Does secure boot protect you from infected BIOS/firmware?
About secure boot, I've visited intel's website and they said:
The feature defines an entirely new interface between operating system and firmware/BIOS. When enabled and fully configured, Secure Boot ...
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Why are mobile phones OS easily hackable (Pegaus & Co)
Every now and then, you here a story about misuses of mobile OS' spyware softwares, developed by technology firms which usually sell their products to governments or groups with similar power.
You ...
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Where could we get CIS Hardening Scripts for AWS EC2?
CIS has published hardening standards for all operating systems of EC2 in AWS.
CIS also provides hardened images as well but they're quite expensive at $130/year/instance.
Is there a place where we ...
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How is re-encryption of a drive after a crash handled? [duplicate]
If you have full-disk (or a partition) encrypted, and your computer crashes, without the opportunity to re-encrypt the data (I'm assuming that happens with a graceful shutdown), isn't that a security ...
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Cross OS GPU based malware
I've been doing some research into GPU based malwares, and would like to know if there is a way to run them on a dual boot scenario with the code being executed only on one Operational System and be &...
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Can an OS implement Trusted Boot without TPM given Secure Boot?
Since Secure Boot authenticates software, the OS only needs to check hardware. The implementation I have in mind measures hardware and compares the result of the measurement to the value in an EFI ...
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Importance of OS security patches for devices only used in home network
(This question bugs me because I am not willing to upgrade for Windows 10)
If we are talking about a device (i.e. a PC) in the following scenario:
The device is located behind a router that is up-to-...
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What are the risks of desktop personalization on Windows?
I've worked on places where the admins have disabled desktop personalization on Windows for settings like:
changing desktop background and lock screen images
local themes - no high contrast for ...
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Can you create a fake (malicious) Ubuntu iso
Recently I got into an exchange with someone on social media about the security of Linux versus OSX and Windows. I stated that it is possible (and probable) that someone could code a low level back ...
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Is Linux really not spying on us?
When I ask someone about Linux, people always say it's really safe and this OS doesn't collect your data and these are not spy operating systems.
When I ask them "how?" they say, "...
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Process Injection and Process Isolation by OS
If the OS is responsible for ensuring that one process cannot access another process memory space, and the point of process isolation is to keep processes separate from one another, then how can a ...
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How to encrypt and hide a GNU/Linux operating system and create a decoy system?
My goal is to be protected against key disclosure laws and possible extortion. I know dm-crypt can be used to perform full disk encryption for GNU/Linux distros. However, it is not enough. I want to ...
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Does moving webAuthn API from browser to OS improves security of registration process?
Usually, for all types of authentications, we trust the registration process and assume there is no attack is happening Like in the case of FIDO2 registration. However, as the registration process is ...
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How should GNU/Linux noobs harden their dekstop OS?
I'm interested in using GNU/Linux for different reasons. Partly for freedom, privacy, and security. But also to force myself to learn Linux. One issue I’ve found is that desktop Linux seems to have ...
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How do memory resident viruses work?
Two part question:
1-How do memory resident viruses stay in memory after the program which loaded them is finalized? If all memory is automatically deallocated by the OS once a program is finished, ...
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How to install Java 8 on Kali Nethunter [closed]
Guys I need to install jdk 8 for my programs to work better, many programs do not support the version higher than Java 8 so I want to install Java 8 to run better, I tried to install via apt-get, but ...
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Can the sandboxing technique prevent a buffer overflow attack?
Buffer overflow Attack: Sample Authorization
void A( ) {
int authorized;
char name [128];
authorized = check credentials (...); /* the attacker is not authorized, so returns 0 */
printf ("...
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Can the primary operating system be hacked when using another one on an external drive?
I have Kali Linux on an external flash drive that is 128GB. I would like to build a PC with my friend but I don't know which operating system to put on it. I want to be able to play games and I know ...
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Is it possible to determinate which functions a kernel module calls?
Trusting kernel drivers is bad. Is there something we can do to have at least an idea about what it does?
For example, let's suppose an armv8a linux kernel. I'd search for all the syscalls, which ...
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What is the risk of using Windows Phone 8.1 now?
My friend uses Microsoft Phone 8.1 mobile for a tax accountancy firm. As it hasn't received security updates for five years I believe that is a significant information security risk. However, the ...
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Managing vulnerabilities in continuous delivery
When building my own Docker container, if I use a base image such as Debian 10.6 (stable) there are times when high vulnerabilities are found in the OS packages, that have not been fixed in this ...
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Wiping a hard drive before reinstallation
A few years ago, I left a new laptop at a sketchy computer shop to downgrade the OS to Windows 7. The experience was a disaster. My goal now is to install Cinnamon Linux on the laptop and remove ...
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Is the most (theoretically-) secure OS/distro something minimalistic like Gentoo or something security-focused like Qubes?
Assuming you only use mainstream software like Firefox, Thunderbird and Libreoffice, and update/upgrade every day and use strong passwords and encryption. I know this is probably a very basic and ...
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Understanding Secure Boot
I'm trying to understand the secure boot process of an OS but there are few points I can't wrap my head around.
At a high level, afaik, secure boot ensures that the loaded OS is authenticated by its ...
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Publicly Available PCAP dumps that associate IP addresses with Operating System? [closed]
I am currently working on a machine learning module to detect Operating Systems based on existing packet traffic in pcap file format. So far, I have generated some traffic of popular Operating Systems ...
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What is difference running Linux by live USB vs. by VirtualBox?
Can an expert please explain me which of following three methods working with an OS is technically considered more "secure" - and why (pros/cons)?
Security I mean aspects like:
-preventing any ...
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Security implications of using VM versus dual boot
I have my main computer and Windows installation that I use to work with (to me) important data. I keep this environment reasonably secure, however, I need a place with loosened restrictions. I ...
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How to get a Windows 10 complete memory dump on demand?
I was wondering what to do if by any chance I got infected with a Ransomware that could trick my AV suite, and my conclusion is that a complete memory dump would be the best option, as probably the ...
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