Re: [Full-Disclosure] Windoze almost managed to 200x repeat 9/11

From: Michal Zalewski (lcamtuf_at_ghettot.org)
Date: 09/24/04

  • Next message: Barry Fitzgerald: "Re: [Full-Disclosure] Windoze almost managed to 200x repeat 9/11" 
    To: ASB <abaker@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 2004 20:32:21 +0200 (CEST)

    On Fri, 24 Sep 2004, ASB wrote:

    > "The servers are timed to shut down after 49.7 days of use in order to
    > prevent a data overload, a union official told the LA Times."
    >
    > How you managed to read "OS failure" into this is rather astounding...

    The statement above, even though either cleverly disguised by the
    authorities, or mangled by the press, does ring a bell. It is not about
    applications eating up too much memory, hence requiring an occassional
    reboot, oh no.

    Windows 9x had a problem (fixed by Microsoft, by the way) that caused them
    to hang or crash after a jiffie counter in the kernel overflowed:

      http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q216/6/41.asp

    It would happen precisely after 49.7 days. Coincidence? Not very likely.
    It seems that the system was running on unpatched Windows 95 or 98, and
    rather than deploying a patch, they came up with a maintenance procedure
    requiring a scheduled reboot every 30 days.

    This is one hell of a ridiculous idea, and any attempt to blame a failure
    on a technician who failed to reboot the box is really pushing it.

    It is not uncommon for telecommunications, medical, flight control,
    banking and other mission-critical applications to run on terribly ancient
    software (and with a clause that requires them NOT to be updated, because
    the software is not certified against those patches).

    In the end, the OS and decision-makers that implemented the system and
    established ill-conceived workarounds should split the blame.

    /mz

    _______________________________________________
    Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
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  • Next message: Barry Fitzgerald: "Re: [Full-Disclosure] Windoze almost managed to 200x repeat 9/11"

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