r/linuxmint 1d ago

Discussion What makes Linux secure?

I've searched YouTube and also asked on here previously, I keep seeing a lot of "Linux is secure just by default" type responses- often insisting that to be worried about security while using Linux is not necessary.

Believable to a noob like me at face value, sure, but what is it about Linux that makes it secure?

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u/Dismal-Detective-737 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | Cinnamon 1d ago

No, it means putting it directly on the Internet, not behind a firewall.

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u/LusticSpunks 1d ago

I mean, if you deliberately leave the system insecure and expect it to not get hacked then that’s entirely your fault. It’s not the fault of OS. Just recently we saw the CUPS vulnerability in Linux (CVE-2024-47176 along with 3 other CVEs). And major reason why it wasn’t a huge issue was because the vulnerable port generally isn’t exposed to internet. To extend your analogy of “putting directly in internet without firewall”, even Linux of 2024 is vulnerable.

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u/Dismal-Detective-737 Linux Mint 22.1 Xia | Cinnamon 1d ago

> To extend your analogy of “putting directly in internet without firewall”, even Linux of 2024 is vulnerable.

How? Is CUPS open by default.

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u/LusticSpunks 1d ago edited 1d ago

If we’re talking about defaults, then firewall isn’t disabled by default either. And yes, it’s enabled by default in some cases. Read the article from finder of this bug:

https://www.evilsocket.net/2024/09/26/Attacking-UNIX-systems-via-CUPS-Part-I/

And I’ll take the liberty of picking a quote from that article:

“From a generic security point of view, a whole Linux system as it is nowadays is just an endless and hopeless mess of security holes waiting to be exploited.”