As the world grows increasingly digital, so does its reliance on secure, reliable, and well-tested systems. The effort to rewrite Unix-like command line tools, such as sudo and su, in Rust makes perfect sense. Rust is a modern language noted for its ability to help produce secure, memory-safe codes.
Long-Term Benefits of Rewriting Sudo and Su in Rust
According to the story by ARS Technica, taking something as fundamental as sudo and su and rewriting them in a language like Rust can only mean better security and stability for end users. Implementing the new sudo and su codes won't be a small undertaking.
It will require the work of a dedicated team, with support from Amazon Web Services, and a well-considered plan for doing so. It is also important to note that many of the vulnerabilities relating to sudo are not related to memory safety issues.
Modernizing Unix-Like Systems with Rewritten Sudo and Su in Rust
However, memory-safe versions of sudo and su certainly can't hurt - they only help to improve security. The Prossimo team's efforts are so important to the wider digital community. Users deserve to have powerful, secure tools. Rewriting sudo and su in Rust is a step in the right direction.
The current rewrite of sudo and su is an important and necessary step in modernizing Unix-like systems. The decades-old infrastructure of sudo and su have been susceptible to memory-related vulnerabilities, making it crucial to replace these aging tools with their Rust reworks.
Risks of the Sudo and Su Reimplementation Project
The joint team of Ferrous Systems and Tweede Golf are handling the reimplementation of sudo and su, with support from Amazon Web Services, and have laid out their work plan and milestone. More of Sudo was explained on the Sudo website.
While Coggeshall and Spencer first developed the sudo command at the State University of New York at Buffalo, the su command was part of Version 1 Unix. While the memory-safe Rust-based reworks of sudo and su are a welcome update, this project faces several potential pitfalls.
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Questions About User Adoption and Security Flaws Remain
For one, sudo and su have been around for 40 years or more, and many users have come to rely on them and may not be inclined to switch to the new tools. The project also does not outline how users would adopt the reworks, which could require even more effort.
Finally, it is not certain that the new Rust-based tools would be immune from security flaws. The upcoming reimplementation of sudo and su in Rust is a promising step towards modernizing the operating systems of Unix-like systems, but there is much left to be done.
It is still uncertain how user adoption of the new tools would occur and how completely the tools would be immune to security flaws. Nonetheless, this exciting effort can potentially bring the command line into the 21st century.
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