Factory-fresh ASUS Eee PC vulnerable to hackers
Everybody's ritual when they get a new computer is different: some people start installing their favorite programs, some people set their desktop picture to Pushing Daisies (not us, other people... who aren't us), and others check for vulnerable processes that might allow hackers to gain root access. RISE Security falls into that latter category, and spotted a vulnerable version of Samba on a virgin Xandros Eee PC. They ran a pre-built exploit they had for just an occasion, and found that they can indeed root the system through ill-gotten means. No word if there's an update available to patch this hole, but in the interim keep an eye out for scruffy-looking men wearing skull and crossbone paraphernalia snooping around your network.
[Thanks, Eliot]
