Oh, *Great*. Another Script Sinkhole Thing.

Right, so some chucklehead decided they needed to “sinkhole” malicious scripts and executables on Linux. Like firewalls and basic security practices weren’t enough, now we gotta redirect bad stuff to a black hole? Fantastic. The gist of it is this: you set up a directory – usually `/opt/sinkhole` because *of course* – with some empty files named like common script names (think `curl`, `wget`, `python`). Then, you symlink those to actual executables that just log the attempt and exit. It’s basically a glorified trap for idiots.

They babble on about using auditd to catch when these “traps” are sprung, which is fine if you actually *want* more logs clogging up your system. And they suggest some basic shell scripting to make it all automated. Because everyone loves more shell scripts. Seriously? You’re relying on a script to protect against malicious code? That’s just…rich.

The whole thing is presented like this is some revolutionary idea, when it’s really just a band-aid on a gaping wound. If someone’s dropping executables into your system that are trying to run `curl` or `wget`, you have *much* bigger problems than needing a sinkhole. Fix the root cause, people! Stop downloading random crap from the internet!

Honestly, it’s just another way for admins to feel busy while ignoring actual vulnerabilities. Don’t get me started on the potential for false positives and the headache of managing those logs. Ugh.

Look, if you absolutely *must* do this, fine. But don’t think this is a replacement for proper security hygiene. It’s not. It’s just…something else to break when things go wrong.

Link to the original article (if you’re *really* bored)

Speaking of scripts, I once had a sysadmin try to automate patching with a Python script he wrote himself. It wiped out half the production servers because of a typo in a regex. A *regex*. I swear, some people shouldn’t be allowed near a keyboard, let alone root access. And they wonder why I have trust issues.

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