Category: Software

  • WordPress 5.2.4

    Hot on the heels of WordPress version 5.2.3 which fixed a bunch of stuff we have WordPress 5.2.4 with fixes for six security issues. There is a certain trick to matching up what the WordPress Blog thinks has been fixed and the changsets between the old version and the new. The curious thing is there…

  • WordPress 5.1.1

    The Debian packages for WordPress version 5.1.1 are being updated as I write this. This is a security fix for WordPress that stops comments causing a cross-site scripting bug. It’s an important one to update. The backports should happen soon so even if you are using Debian stable you’ll be covered.

  • WordPress 5.0.1

    While I missed the WordPress 5.0 release, it was only a few more days before there was a security release out. So WordPress 5.0.1 will be available in Debian soon. This is both a security update from 5.0.1 and a huge feature update from the 4.9.x versions to the 5.0 versions. The WordPress website, in…

  • Odd dependency on Google Chrome

    For weeks I have had problems with Google Chrome. It would work very few times and then for reasons I didn’t understand, would stop working. On the command line you would get several screens of text, but never would the Chrome window appear. So I tried the Beta, and it worked… once. Deleted all the…

  • Securing WordPress with AppArmor

    WordPress is a very popular CMS. According to one report, 30% of websites use WordPress, which is an impressive feat. Despite this popularity, WordPress is built upon PHP which is often lacking in the security department. Add to this that the user that runs the webserver often has a fair bit of access and there…

  • WordPress 4.9.1

    After a much longer than expected break due to moving and the resulting lack of Internet, plus WordPress releasing a package with a non-free file, the Debian package for WordPress 4.9.1 has been uploaded! WordPress 4.9 has a number of improvements, especially around the customiser components so that looked pretty slick. The editor for the…

  • Short Delay with WordPress 4.9

    You may have heard WordPress 4.9 is out. While this seems a good improvement over 4.8, it has a new editor that uses codemirror.  So what’s the problem? Well, inside codemirror is jshint and this has that idiotic no evil license. I think this was added in by WordPress, not codemirror itself. So basically WordPress…

  • psmisc 23.0

    I had to go check but it has been over 3 years since the last psmisc release back in February 2014. I really didn’t think it had been that long ago.  Anyhow, with no further delay, psmisc version 23.0 has been released today! Update: 23.1 is out now, removed some debug line out of killall…

  • The sudo tty bug and procps

    There have been recent reports of a security bug in sudo (CVE-2017-1000367) where you can fool sudo into thinking what controlling terminal it is running on to bypass its security checks.  One of the first things I thought of was, is procps vulnerable to the same bug? Sure, it wouldn’t be a security bypass, but…

  • WordPress 4.7.2

    When WordPress originally announced their latest security update, there were three security fixes. While all security updates can be serious, they didn’t seem too bad. Shortly after, they updated their announcement with a fourth and more serious security problem. I have looked after the Debian WordPress package for a while. This is the first time…