Monthly Archives: May 2022

BIG-IP iControl REST vulnerability offers root commands

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This vulnerability may allow an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the BIG-IP system through the management port and/or self IP addresses to execute arbitrary system commands, create or delete files, or disable services. There is no data plane exposure; this is a control plane issue only.

Security Advisory Status

F5 Product Development has assigned IDs 1033837, 1051561, and 1052837 (BIG-IP) to this vulnerability. This issue has been classified as CWE-306: Missing Authentication for Critical Function.

Source: BIG-IP iControl REST vulnerability CVE-2022-1388

Rechargeable Molten Salt Battery Freezes Energy in Place for Long-Term Battery Storage

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In a recent paper published in Cell Reports Physical Science, they demonstrated how freezing and thawing a molten salt solution creates a rechargeable battery that can store energy cheaply and efficiently for weeks or months at a time.

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Most conventional batteries store energy as chemical reactions waiting to happen. When the battery is connected to an external circuit, electrons travel from one side of the battery to the other through that circuit, generating electricity. To compensate for the change, charged particles called ions move through the fluid, paste or solid material that separates the two sides of the battery. But even when the battery is not in use, the ions gradually diffuse across this material, which is called the electrolyte. As that happens over weeks or months, the battery loses energy. Some rechargeable batteries can lose almost a third of their stored charge in a single month.

“In our battery, we really tried to stop this condition of self-discharge,” says PNNL researcher Guosheng Li, who led the project. The electrolyte is made of a salt solution that is solid at ambient temperatures but becomes liquid when heated to 180 degrees Celsius—about the temperature at which cookies are baked. When the electrolyte is solid, the ions are locked in place, preventing self-discharge. Only when the electrolyte liquifies can the ions flow through the battery, allowing it to charge or discharge.

[…]

Right now the experimental technology is aimed at utility-scale and industrial uses. Sprenkle envisions something like tractor-trailer truck containers with massive batteries inside, parked next to wind farms or solar arrays. The batteries would be charged on-site, allowed to cool and driven to facilities called substations, where the energy could be distributed through power lines as needed.

[…]

Source: Rechargeable Molten Salt Battery Freezes Energy in Place for Long-Term Storage – Scientific American

Vaccine skeptics and anti-maskers who invoked ‘my body, my choice’ in the pandemic are now lining up to support the end of Roe v. Wade

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  • People against vaccine and mask mandates have argued that they impose on a person’s bodily autonomy.
  • That rallying cry of “my body, my choice” was rooted in the abortion-rights battles of Roe v. Wade.
  • Yet those people against vaccine and mask mandates are now encouraging the potential demise of abortion rights.

The leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion that would end Roe v. Wade has been met with approval by many conservatives who championed the very same notion of bodily autonomy and personal choice throughout the pandemic.

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, for example, urged the justices to move ahead with the decision on Tuesday.

Yet, while railing against vaccine mandates last June, he said that they ultimately mean that “personal autonomy means nothing. It is no longer your body, it is no longer your choice.”

[…]

Source: Vaccine skeptics and anti-maskers who invoked ‘my body, my choice’ in the pandemic are now lining up to support the end of Roe v. Wade

Indian Government Now Wants VPNs To Collect And Turn Over Personal Data On Users

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The government of India still claims to be a democracy, but its decade-long assault on the internet and the rights of its citizens suggests it would rather be an autocracy.

The country is already host to one of the largest biometric databases in the world, housing information collected from nearly every one of its 1.2 billion citizens. And it’s going to be expanded, adding even more biometric markers from people arrested and detained.

The government has passed laws shifting liability for third-party content to service providers, as well as requiring them to provide 24/7 assistance to the Indian government for the purpose of removing “illegal” content. Then there are mandates on compelled access — something that would require broken/backdoored encryption. (The Indian government — like others demanding encryption backdoors — refuses to acknowledge this is what it’s seeking.)

In the name of cybersecurity, the Indian government is now seeking to further undermine the privacy of its citizens.

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The new directions issued by CERT-In also require virtual asset, exchange, and custodian wallet providers to maintain records on KYC and financial transactions for a period of five years. Companies providing cloud, virtual private network (VPN) will also have to register validated names, emails, and IP addresses of subscribers.

Taking the “P” out of “VPN:” that’s the way forward for the Indian government, which has apparently decided to emulate China’s strict control of internet use. And it’s yet another way the Indian government is stripping citizens of their privacy and anonymity. The government of India wants to know everything about its constituents while remaining vague and opaque about its own actions and goals.

Source: Indian Government Now Wants VPNs To Collect And Turn Over Personal Data On Users | Techdirt

Russian Cinemas Are Showing Pirated Movies Downloaded From Torrents

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In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, several Hollywood studios announced the immediate suspension of new releases in Russia. Unexpectedly, some Russian theaters are still able to show movies such as The Batman on the big screen but this isn’t down to the studios. The movies are sourced from illegal torrent sites and few seem afraid to admit it.

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Source: Russian Cinemas Are Showing Pirated Movies Downloaded From Torrents * TorrentFreak