Virus points to Linux kernel bug

Linus Torvalds has updated the Linux kernel to fix a bug brought to light by a recent computer virus, according to reports published on Wednesday.

The proof-of-concept virus was submitted to Russian antivirus company Kaspersky Lab earlier this month. It can infect computers running Windows or Linux, Kaspersky calls it Bi.a.

Linux developers found that the virus did not work on recent versions of Linux. They discovered that that was because of an obscure bug in the compiler used by Linux, according to reports by IDG News Service and NewsForge.com.

The bug has now been fixed in the Linux kernel, the core part of the open-source operating system. Most users likely won't see the fix until Version 2.6.17 of the kernel is released. The current version of the kernel is 2.6.16.9.

"Fixing the bug in no way made for worse security," Torvalds said, according to IDG . "Quite the reverse: Fixing a latent bug that doesn't matter today is absolutely required for good security tomorrow. Anybody who tells you otherwise is incompetent."

The virus is a classic proof-of-concept, written to show that it's possible to create a cross-platform virus, Kaspersky said earlier this month.