On July 19th, cybersecurity software CrowdStrike pushed out a flawed update, causing widespread system crashes (at least 8 million Windows PCs affected globally), leading to significant disruptions for many organizations and companies.
Following the incident, public outcry was largely directed at CrowdStrike and Microsoft, especially the latter, which faced considerable backlash. While Microsoft does bear substantial responsibility objectively, it’s worth noting that other systems besides Windows were also impacted.
There’s ample evidence that not only newer versions of Windows were affected. As early as April this year, Linux systems also encountered similar issues, with many users of Linux distributions such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Debian Linux, and Rocky Linux (kernel versions 5.14.0-42713.1 and above) complaining about these problems.
Back on June 4th, Red Hat had already warned users about issues with the falcon-sensor process causing kernel anomalies in Linux systems running kernel version 5.14.0-427.13.1.el9_4.x86_64, notably in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4.
In response, Red Hat advised users to seek help from CrowdStrike to address potential issues in the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor/Agent security suite kernel modules. They also recommended disabling the software to mitigate system crashes.
This incident highlights three key points:
- CrowdStrike’s recent updates have serious flaws affecting multiple platforms, not just Windows.
- Red Hat previously issued warnings, but the lower number of Linux users meant the issue didn’t receive adequate attention, leading to significant oversight by industry professionals and tech companies.
- Despite being open-source, Red Hat demonstrates a serious approach to user support and responsibility, earning respect for their professionalism and service quality.
Currently, both CrowdStrike and Microsoft have released temporary solutions. The situation is still developing, and updates will be shared promptly.
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