Practical security for 2014 [LWN.net]

Practical security for 2014

Posted Jan 11, 2014 0:47 UTC (Sat) by PaXTeam (guest, #24616)
In reply to: Practical security for 2014 by lsl
Parent article: Practical security for 2014

why would a reinstalled OS be any more resistant to the exploit technique(s) that its previous incarnation was?

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Practical security for 2014

Posted Jan 11, 2014 16:12 UTC (Sat) by Karellen (subscriber, #67644) [Link] (2 responses)

Because exploits get patched over time?

Practical security for 2014

Posted Jan 11, 2014 17:25 UTC (Sat) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link]

And new bugs get added all the time, both with feature additions and even the bug fixes. There is no reason to think that OS system software is even converging on security-bug-free over time - perhaps the opposite.

Practical security for 2014

Posted Jan 11, 2014 18:09 UTC (Sat) by PaXTeam (guest, #24616) [Link]

exploits don't get patched (or at least it's not your concern unless you're an attacker), exploitable bugs do however. and it's the same fixes that get installed on a system that's kept up-to-date, so where's the benefit of reinstallation? you get the same code with the same fixes (actually, less with a fresh installation since said fixes have to be downloaded first and i'm sure everyone heard the stories of how vulnerable boxes get infected before they can be patched that way).