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Comment by __s

2 days ago

It doesn't, it just loses your session

A kernel panic doesn't bring down the CPU, nor the hard drive, or the RAM, or the power supply unit. So if we're being pedantic, the machine is still up.

  • Well, a kernel bug gets write access to everything. A bug in userland is a bit more constrained in what it can do.

    That counts especially for accidental bugs and denial of service. To make a userland bug exploited adversarially not impact the rest of the system requires more hardening of the kernel.

    • Yeah a userland bug just gets all my passwords, SSH keys, personal secrets and whatever.

      Say it with me - there's no practical difference.

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