@RedPandaRaider @FallenWalnut
As it is fully open source with many tens of thousands of people poking about with the code, if there was any form of 'back door' it would have been found and removed.
There would also been a massive howl of condemnation against Linus that everyone would have heard about.

So many people have taken the basic code and built different flavour distros with it, it is very well understood.

[–] RedPandaRaider@feddit.org 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

We have found the backdoor though and it has been found only years later.

Look up Bvp47 https://www.securityweek.com/chinese-researchers-detail-linux-backdoor-nsa-linked-equation-group/

[–] leighms@mastodonapp.uk 1 points 2 weeks ago

@RedPandaRaider
Interesting. As far as I can figure out from the technical papers there is no suggestion that it was an intrinsic part of Linux. A malware tool that was introduced somehow.

It does illustrate the importance of keeping patches up to date.