2011
02.08
The upgrade to 3.0.5 was resleased yesterday. From the release notes:
Two moderate security issues were fixed that could have allowed a Contributor- or Author-level user to gain further access to the site.
One information disclosure issue was addressed that could have allowed an Author-level user to view contents of posts they should not be able to see, such as draft or private posts.
Two security enhancements were added. One improved the security of any plugins which were not properly leveraging our security API. The other offers additional defense in depth against a vulnerability that was fixed in previous release.
Download and upgrade now!
Tags: code, upgrade, wordpress Category code, php, security, sysadmin, wordpress |
2011
02.03
On 3G and outgoing mail not sending? Chances are, you need to set the SMTP server specific to your network. Here’s the list that may grow over time: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 8ta, afrihost, cell c, cellphone, is, mail server, mtn, neotel, outgoing, settings, smtp, telkom, vodacom Category Did you know, mobile, sysadmin |
2011
01.16
As one of the elements of modern society, family life and meeting etiquette, the mobile phone has become that always-on irritating device that, like the traditional land-line telephone, often times gets priority over even human contact Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: apple, communiation, microsoft, mobile, social interaction Category Did you know, mobile |
2011
01.11
A new product over at x-pire.net (which redirects to x-pire.de) was unveiled in Germany today, with the aim of embedding expiry times and information into images so that they cannot be viewed after a certain time. In that way there should be a maximum lifespan to digital images on the web to prevent future embarassment, usage etc. At this stage, the prototype is available as plug-in for Firefox (as well as some other browsers in future), and expounds the idea of a ‘forgetful internet’ so that information is not immortal on the web. Read the rest of this entry »
Category code, Did you know, firefox, security |
2010
12.30
From the WordPress Development Blog:
Version 3.0.4 of WordPress, available immediately through the update page in your dashboard or for download here, is a very important update to apply to your sites as soon as possible because it fixes a core security bug in our HTML sanitation library, called KSES. I would rate this release as “critical.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: upgrade, wordpress Category code, Did you know, php, security, sysadmin |
2010
12.09
… it’s time to go 0-3, I think — WordPress 3.0.3 is out – but the update is really only applicable to remote publishing-enabled systems…
WordPress 3.0.3 is available and is a security update for all previous WordPress versions.
This release fixes issues in the remote publishing interface, which under certain circumstances allowed Author- and Contributor-level users to improperly edit, publish, or delete posts.
Tags: remote publishing, upgrade, wordpress Category code, php, sysadmin |
2010
12.02
For what it’s worth: an alleged SEACOM cable break a few kilometers from Alexandria – eta of 2.5hrs or so…
Tags: adsl, connectivity, dsl, fail, international browsing, offline, seacom Category Did you know, General, sysadmin |
2010
12.02
Don’t forget to upgrade inplace or download! It is a mandatory security update for all previous WordPress versions, and upgrades are easy 
Tags: upgrade, wordpress Category code, Did you know, php |
2010
12.02
Seems like there is an upstream cable fault (being investigated) that has caused international browsing from South Africa outward to fail.
Pings reveal failing terminations on the entry points into continental Europe and the US.
IS has reported it as follows, all others are piggy-backing (or just silent on the matter): Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adsl, connectivity, dsl, fail, international browsing, offline Category Did you know, seacom, sysadmin |
2010
11.27
Just a quick grouping of resources relating to Stuxnet resources and analysis after the targeted infections of the frequency converters of the Vaasa, Finland based Vacon (though Vacon publicly denies this) and Iranian company Fararo Paya.
The bottomline takeaway – never use default passwords (partical attack vector of the PLCs and SCADAs), and keep systems patched (4 zero-day Windows-based attacks). And don’t allow USB devices on a production network (the entry point of the 0.5Mb virus written in C and C++)… Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: best practice, security, stuxnet, virus Category code, security, sysadmin |
2010
10.22
So that it’s documented… I’m using port 8080 as the default port as the likelyhood of your upstream proxy being on 8080 is high – else, typical proxy ports are, of course, 80, 800 (transpartent), 8000, 3128 (squid)
To force your server to force web traffic via a proxy, just two quick things to set – in /etc/environment, export one (or two) variables: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: apt, apt-get, environment, export, linux, proxy, ubuntu, web traffic Category bash, code, linux, security, sysadmin |
2010
10.21
You knew it already – but I keep forgetting – the power of zgrep and zcat both of which behave as their z-less counterparts.
So, to search a gzip’d file, you can simply zgrep <term> <filename.gz>, or to cat/view it, zcat <filename.gz>
Good to come back to in case of impending forgetfulness…
Tags: bash, gzip, search, zcat, zgrep Category bash, code, linux, sysadmin |
2010
10.21
For self-reference, mainly:
For the Intel Corporation 82574L Gigabit Network Connection on an old kernel that doesn’t have the drivers compiled into it – get the driver and
make install
it on the platform you’re on, and to be sure (if it doesn’t get done for you) to copy to /lib/modules/2.4.36/kernel/drivers/net/ (your kernel may vary, this is an example only) Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: drivers, kernel, linux, server linux Category bash, code, linux, sysadmin |
2010
09.28
There are two irritations when it comes to the Kindle. First of those is your collection of PDFs you bought or own that you’d like to read as a ‘book’ on the Kindle (without going through the whole long USER@[free.]kindle.com) email and Whispernet delivery process. The other is the EPUB Sony Book reader format files that you have — but that the Kindle doesn’t interpret. Here’s how to get around this. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: azw, books, calibre, conversion, ebook, epub, format, kindle, mobipocker, nook, pdf, reader Category Did you know, sysadmin |
2010
09.10
Here’s something fun: use Firefox 3.6.9 to have a set of Javascript code in a child frame append HTML code to a text box in the parent frame, and content of the string is modified:
what was
<img src="foo.jpg" alt="bar" width="1" height="1" />
becomes
<img alt="bar" width="1" height="1" />
which is pretty pointless… Read the rest of this entry »
Category code, Did you know, firefox, javascript, sysadmin |
2010
08.30
Last time, generator maintenance in Johannesburg took everything offline.
There was just notification with the subject line “unknown” (referring to the categorisation of the issue) at 14h22:
SYMPTOMS EXPERIENCED: Intermittent Degradation in Service
SEVERITY: Critical Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: business, connectivity, crash, datacentre, lines down, mtn, offline, outage Category Did you know, security, sysadmin |
2010
08.28
So – Afrihost ADSL uncapped… the promise of “Pure Internet Joy” is part of the offering’s headline.
On a 4Mbps line, the offering of the uncapped account is quite good. Then came the warnings — throtteling may occur based on usage patterns. Then came the notification that there would be an hour-to-hour usage analysis to control the access to consistent line speeds for the “other 93%” of users using the IS-resold Afrihost bandwidth.
To my mind, that’s understandable – if someone’s pulling 210GB a month on an “uncapped” account, they should be throttled as that can be seen as excessive. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adsl, advertising, afrihost, bandwidth, dsl, is, speed, throttle, uncapped Category Did you know, sysadmin |
2010
08.09
To find all files by file name containing THE TEXT I SEEK:
grep -lir "THE TEXT I SEEK" *
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bash, code, files, find, text Category bash, code, linux, sysadmin |
2010
08.09
I’m sure you’ve done it already, but WordPress 3.0.1 (a maintenance release) is out since Friday and you should have upgraded (and updated the database) already by downloading the 3.0.1 version.
List of revised files:
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: maintenance release, update, upgrade, wordpress Category code, php, security, sysadmin, wordpress |
2010
07.25
Remember to upgrade your Kindle from Amazon – there’s a new firmware upgrade available, taking the system to version 2.5.2 (24.3MB – you may want to transfer via USB…) Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: collections, facebook, firmware, fonts, kindle, password, pdf, security, twitter, upgrade Category Did you know, mobile, Other, security, sysadmin |