Re: Sourceware mitigating and preventing the next xz-backdoor

Paul Eggert
2024-04-09T22:17:42Z

On 4/9/24 14:58, Sam James wrote:
> Meson doesn't allow user-defined functions

Meson has ways to execute arbitrary user-defined code, so it's not
immune to this sort of exploit.

It's of course better (all other things being equal) to use a build
system with a smaller attack surface. However, any surface of nonzero
size is attackable, so I'm not convinced that Meson is significantly
safer against a determined insider. Although the xz exploit was tricky
and is now famous (hey! the front page of the New York Times!)
fundamentally it was sloppy and amateurish and it succeeded only because
xz's project management was even sloppier.

Yes, we need to defend against amateurish attacks. But we shouldn't
waste valuable developer time on defenses that won't work against
obvious future attacks and that will likely cost more than they'll
benefit. That's just security theater.