Homeland Security Audit Flags 'Critical' Linux Bug
Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 2:19 pm
An open-source security audit program funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has flagged a critical vulnerability in the X Window System which is used in Unix and Linux systems.
Coverity, the San Franciso-based company managing the project under a $1.25 million grant, described the flaw as the "biggest security vulnerability" found in the X Window System code since 2000.
The X Window System, also called X11 or X, provides the toolkit and protocol to build GUIs for Unix and Unix-like operating systems. It is used to provide windowing for bit-map displays.
The X Window System also ships as an optional GUI with Macintosh computers from Apple.
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