Linux SSL encryption bug introduced

How a programming error introduced profound security vulnerabilities in millions of computer systems.

“Never fix a bug you don’t understand!” raved OpenSSL developer Ben Laurie on his blog after the full extent of the error became known. Laurie blames the Debian developers for trying to fix the “bug” in the version of OpenSSL distributed with the Debian and Ubuntu operating systems, rather than sending the fix to the OpenSSL developers. “Had Debian done this in this case,” he wrote, “we (the OpenSSL Team) would have fallen about laughing, and once we had got our breath back, told them what a terrible idea this was. But no, it seems that every vendor wants to ‘add value’ by getting in between the user of the software and its author.”

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