A remote code execution vulnerability for the .Org WordPress fork has been reported (archived). At the core of this issue is Auttomattic's refusal to have their software do any sort of checking when comments are involved, a flaw which has left the bulk of WordPress blogs open to being used as DDoS participants. Because why would they fix structural problems? Why fix the grave structural problems making the software a public nuissance, when they can wait and patch particular problems only as they are exploited?
Monthly Archives: March 2019
China Makes Humanitarian Move To Aid Venezuala Restore Electricity Amid Dam Sabotage
China is offering to aid to Venezuela as Maduro struggles to restore electricity following apparent sabotage at the Guri dam's hydroelectric plant (archived). With Russia already showing strong continuing support for Maduro's regime and China making this move, it is going to be very hard for the US to contine painting action against Maduro as backed by the "International Community" while two UN Security Council veto powers are not merely voting, but acting against US efforts.
In related news, the RAND Corporation has loudly published reports showing the US losing to China and Russia in most WWIII scenarios they managed to imagine (archived).
Local Rag: Britain Just Leaving Their Undersea Cable Landing Sites Open And Unguarded
According to the Daily Mail, the landing point for the British side of a cable providing connectivity to North America is pretty much unguarded and the gate was even open when they took pictures (archived). They report the Hibernia express is 6 milliseconds faster than other routes connecting London and New York. Whether the piece is an honest expose of lax security standards or bait to draw attacks in the manner of FBI "Death Ray" plots is uncertain at this time.
Taliban's Late Mullah Omar Lived Out His Days 3 Miles From US Outpost
Former Taliban leader Mullah Omar, whose 2013 death was only revealed two years later, reportedly lived out his years after the US invasion separated from a US base by a very walkable 3 mile distance (archived). The nearby Forward Operating Base Wolverine held a garrison of 1000 soldiers during the period and frequently hosted US and allied special operations forces. Even though the US and some Tajiks "won" their initial war over the Taliban in 2 months (archived), the US has been continuously fighting a war in Afghanistan against the Taliban and others since October 7th, 2001.
French Ophthalmologists Demand Police Rubber Ball Bullet Ban After Epidemic Of Eye Injuries
A letter written by France's leading opthamologists has been published in local media one month after it was sumbitted to the goverment of French Autcocrat Macron. The letter calls for a ban of 40mm flash ball "rubber" bullets enjoying liberal use among Macronist forces (archived). The problem projectiles carry the kinetic energy of a .38 special round to their target with a low degree of accuracy. Yellow Jacket rebels are in their 17th consecutive week of action against Macron's autocratic rule.
More than 20 eyes have been lost to Macronist forces wielding these weapons. Macron is one of several western autocrats who, after achieving narrow margins of electoral victory, wants to engage is regime change against Venezuela's democratically elected President Maduro who enjoys overwhelming margins of electoral victory.
Sears Sued By Stanley Black And Decker Over "Limited Line" Clause In Craftsman Sales Agreement
Stanley Black and Decker is suing Sears for breach of contract after buying the "Craftsman" brand from the once large retailer (archived). When Stanley Black and Decker bought the "Craftsman" brand from Sears, the agreement left Sears the ability to use the "Craftsman" brand to market a "limited line" of tools. In a case of if you can you must, Sears proceeded to have a high end line of "Craftsman Ultimate" mechanics produced and used to market their ailing chain as the "the real home of the broadest assortment of Craftsman" after emerging from bankruptcy. Stanley Black and Decker apparently perceives this as incredibly unfair to their other, larger retail partners.
Venezuela's Guri Dam And Simón Bolívar Hydroelectric Plant Sabotaged Leading To Blackouts
Profound blackouts have sticken Venezuela after sabotage at Guri dam's Simón Bolívar hydroelectric plant (archived). The dam, originally built in the 1960's has been continually upgraded through its life to a generating capacity of more than 10,000 megawatts. A portion of the complex's power output is normally exported to Colombia and Brazil. At this time it is uncertain whether the sabotage was carried out by a stuxnet type attack or by the other guys, but terrorism carried out by a rogue state leads the list of possible causes.
Of course, these "humanitarian interventions" have always tended to be very destructive and expensive for the humanitarianly aided (archived).
US FDA Approves Dissociative Anesthetic To "Treat" Living In The US
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine under the new generic name eskatamine1 to be used as a fast acting treatment for depression (archived). The dissociative anesthetic drug is being marketed as a fast acting nasal spray offering relief within hours. Attached to the approval are conditions that this dissociative experience only be administered at select clinics with individual doses costing 900 USD per hit or 7000 USD for a month of biweekly doses as recommended by the label instructions.
Trade name: Spravato ↩
Huawei Sues USG Over Blackballing
Huawei is suing the United States government, including the United States Congress, over the unconstitutional blacklisting of their business in the "John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019" under the US Consitution's Bill of Attainer clause and other Federal Statutes prohibiting the individual targeting of companies and persons for punishment without trial. The complaint alleges that Congress illegally deprived Huawei of due process while trashing Congress's own:
general reputation and its specific commitment to honoring the laws of the United States.
Huawei filed the suit in the Eastern District of Texas. The full complain is reproduced below: Continue reading
Newly Documented Intel Speculative Memory Management Bug Affects All Generations Of Intel "Core" CPUs, Makes ROWHAMMERing Much Easier
A weakness in the way addresses are speculated in the memory subsystem of Intel CPUs makes all manner of attacks much easier to pull off (archived). Particularly ROWHAMMER. This speculation weakness appears to be particular to Intel CPUs with AMD, ARM, and others not being weak in this specific way. Across Intel processors however, this weakness is endemic stretching all the way back to when Intel first started using the "Core" branding to label processor models.
Intel was reportedly informed of this defect in their products on December 1st. The fellows who sinfully waited 90 days later before going public would like for this property of Intel's late model CPUs to be dubbed SPOILER, an all caps name that in this case is not an acronym for anything.