88 High-Risk Defects Found in Android Kernel

[KC2UUZ]

Found over at PC World.

88 High-Risk Defects Found in Android Kernel - PCWorld Business Center

This doesn't sound good.

 

[Dperks17]

Mine runs butta smooth

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

It sure doesn't. And it's not supposed to, readers and hits won't come if they just say "more, newer bugs found in Linux kernel". It's what they aren't saying -- that's what I find interesting.

1. All software, including the Linux Kernel has bugs.
2. The same "buggy" Linux kernel Android uses, is also running some of the most secure servers on the planet.
3. Those bugs will be patched with the next kernel update, then new bugs will be found. This is how software works. The first person to write a bug free piece of code probably gets a special place in heaven.
4. The Linux kernel is open source. That allows anyone and everyone a chance to look at it, find bugs, report them, and submit patches. Some people would rather seek out some sort of fame instead of just submitting the patches, and those types of people are what we're dealing with here. It's nothing new, just new to Android.
5. I'm certain an equal number of bugs, which are just as severe exist in the kernel running iOS. We'll never know, because it's not available.
6. I'm just as certain that huge glaring the-sky-is-falling bugs exist in the BlackBerry OS, but again we'll never know.

And finally, unless you hand your phone to someone with a development computer and a USB cable, none of this means anything. Kernel bugs do not equal a security exploit.

PC World does a much more realistic take on this news story than some others I've read. Maybe it's because their web server is running one of those buggy, unsafe Linux kernels