Running the "Reflections on Trusting Trust" Compiler (2023)
Mood
thoughtful
Sentiment
positive
Category
tech
Key topics
compiler security
Ken Thompson's talk
computer science history
The article discusses running the 'Reflections on Trusting Trust' compiler, a seminal work by Ken Thompson on compiler security and trust.
Snapshot generated from the HN discussion
Discussion Activity
Light discussionFirst comment
17h
Peak period
2
Day 1
Avg / period
2
Based on 2 loaded comments
Key moments
- 01Story posted
11/16/2025, 1:59:19 PM
2d ago
Step 01 - 02First comment
11/17/2025, 6:39:40 AM
17h after posting
Step 02 - 03Peak activity
2 comments in Day 1
Hottest window of the conversation
Step 03 - 04Latest activity
11/17/2025, 7:07:50 AM
2d ago
Step 04
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With careful planning though, with the ability to rootkit any linux kernel it compiles that in turn hot-patches any gcc compilations and so on, with the ability to re-route system calls to hide itself... it could be very very hard to detect.
Even moreso if such was deployed in a couple target CI/CD systems.
bootstrappable builds are the only path to prove such an attack did not happen.
2 more comments available on Hacker News
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