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How the xz backdoor highlights a major flaw in Nix (shadeyg56.vercel.app)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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The main issue is the handling of security updates within the Nixpkgs ecosystem, which relies on Nix's CI system, Hydra, to test and build packages. Due to the extensive number of packages in the Nixpkgs repository, the process can be slow, causing delays in the release of updates. As an example, the updated xz 5.4.6 package took nearly 5 days to become available in the unstable branch!

Fundamentally, there needs to be a change in how security fixes are handled in Hydra. As stated in the article, Nix was lucky to be unaffected, but multiple days to push out a security patch of this severity is concerning, even if there was no reason for concern.

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[-] qwesx@kbin.social 2 points 7 months ago

Maybe you should actually have read OP's post.

[-] 0xtero@beehaw.org 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I'm not sure why you think I didn't? Sorry if it was unclear.

From the blog:

This incident has really made me wonder if running the unstable branch is a great idea or not.

My comment:

Bottom line, don’t run bleeding edge distros in prod.

Hope this clarified my opinion! Have a good day!

this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2024

108 points (87.5% liked)

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