Month: December 2020

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

Cisco has patched its Jabber conferencing and messaging application against a critical vulnerability that made it possible for attackers to execute malicious code that would spread from computer to computer with no user interaction required. Again.

The vulnerability, which was first disclosed in September, was the result of several flaws discovered by researchers at security firm Watchcom Security. First, the app failed to properly filter potentially malicious elements contained in user-sent messages. The filter was based on an incomplete blocklist that could be bypassed using a programming attribute known as onanimationstart.

Messages that contained the attribute passed directly to DOM of an embedded browser. Because the browser was based on the Chromium Embedded Framework, it would execute any scripts that made it through the filter.

Enlarge / Be a shame if anything happened to those dinosaur paddock gates, so it's a good thing Sam Jackson can monitor this situation with his Quadra 700. (credit: Universal Pictures)

The crop of personal computers available in the last decade of the 20th century were markedly faster, more capable, and more connected than their primitive ancestors. Clock speeds and transistor counts were rapidly increasing, and the decreasing cost of memory and storage was opening up new avenues for the personal computer to evolve from an expensive desk accessory into a tool for multimedia and professional graphics design.

In 1991, the Intel i486DX was one of the hottest processors on the market—literally. It was one of the first that all but required a heatsink, and a cooling fan was a good option for processors with higher clockspeeds. But for Apple, the PowerPC architecture was still below the horizon, leaving just one choice for high-performance Macintosh computers in the early 90s: the Motorola 68040 microprocessor.

What a beast. The '040 was a substantial upgrade over the '030 that had previously been used by Apple. It featured 1.2 million transistors, over four times as many as its predecessor. This processor increased the L1 cache size by a factor of eight to 4096 bytes, and it was the first 68k processor to have an on-board floating-point unit (FPU). While not without its drawbacks, the '040 processor was an obvious candidate for Apple's next line of premium workstations at time. And this line would become known as “Quadra,” starting with the Quadra 700 and 900 models in late 1991.

Enlarge / Starhopper survived, but SpaceX's SN8 Starship prototype did not. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

Welcome to Edition 3.25 of the Rocket Report! These are wild times in the world of launch. The window for Virgin Galactic's first powered launch from its New Mexico facility opens Friday, and this is on top of United Launch Alliance's attempt to fly NROL-44 Thursday night on its Delta IV Heavy rocket, SpaceX's SXM-7 launch on Friday, and Astra's next orbital attempt, also on Friday.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Virgin Galactic launch window opens Friday. The company says it remains on track for its first powered flight from its New Mexico spaceport. Pilots CJ Sturckow and David Mackay will fly the vehicle on a trajectory that will go above the 80km altitude that the company defines as space, SpaceNews reports.

Disney held its 2020 Investor Day event on Thursday, and naturally the House of Mouse's high profile franchises have grabbed all the initial headlines. Yada, yada, Fantastic Four MCU film and Loki series. Blah, blah, seven new Star Wars things.

But Lucasfilm and Marvel were far from the only Disney-owned entities making investors tingle with anticipation due to exciting upcoming projects. With the full project rundown is now available to peruse, a few announcements in particular caught our eye on first pass.

For FX on Hulu, the long anticipated adaptation of Y: The Last Man will finally debut in 2021. Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's famed DC Comics title centers on a post-apocalyptic world where only one mammal with a Y chromosome survived: a cisgender man who roams this new reality with his pet monkey. The story has been rumored for a film or TV adaptation basically since the comic neared its ending (Disturbia director D.J. Caruso was once attached back in 2007), but Diane Lane and relative newcomer Ben Schnetzer will ultimately headline the cast bringing it to life.