this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2025
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Brodie Robertson made a video about malware which pretends to be a pdf but is actually just an executable with a
.pdffile extension. So if you double click it, you get pwnd. I think some desktop environments ask you for confirmation before running such thing but I would not count on it.So we even have an example of Linux specific malware.
It shouldn't even be able to run it, because the x permission bit is missing. As far as I know binaries can't include icons on linux, so it would look different too.
Nope, the permission bit is preserved if you share the pdf in an archive like zip. The "looks different" won't help. There is always at least a single user who accidentally falls for a trap, which looks like an obvious trap to others.