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Not sure if this has been mentioned since I couldn't bring myself to read all 199 comments. At least for the first couple of pages, the uninformed seem to blame Microsoft for this. As much as Microsoft screws up, this particular issue isn't on them ...in any way, shape or form.
The reason why this happened is because the CrowdStrike agent is a boot level driver. This means that it gets loaded pretty much before most of anything else, except when you boot in Safe Mode. Then, only absolutely necessary drivers are loaded. You also need Safe Mode to be able to delete the offending file, since in a regular session (when the PC wouldn't crash) the file would be in use and thus locked.
I must admit, when I read about the fix I couldn't believe my eyes. A file with the .sys extension is usually a driver. This means actual executable code. Usually anti-malware and HIPS applications work with some form of pattern file. CrowdStrike really does distribute its "signature" updates as executable code. And therein lies the problem. I don't know how many of you know about coding and pointers in particular, but here goes: CrowdStrike tried to call some code in that update (C-00000291*.sys). The problem was, the file CrowdStrike had pushed contained zeros. Now, when you try to call or dereference a pointer of 0 (nullptr), that just won't fly. Usually, to get around potential nullptrs you make a check for it before trying to use the pointer. You can also use try/catch statements. Apparently, someone at CrowdStrike didn't think this was necessary. And... BOOOM!
At the company I work, we also got hit pretty hard by this issue. While our company is actually on the smaller size, the corporation that owns us uses CrowdStrike. A lot of us are tech-savvy, being developers. Still we weren't able to help ourselves because these days you're not allowed to have admin permissions on your workstation. Our consultants are issued laptops, which, because they're used both on- and off-site, are BitLocker-encrypted. That's not necessarily a problem, because each consultant has their key. What they don't have is the recovery key, which for some reason is needed when you actually manage to get into Repair Mode. We had to have our sys admin take a break from his vacation to help get us up and running again. Many systems are still down, because there only was time to bring the most important ones back on-line.
And yes, this could just as easily have hit *nix and macOS. But the majority of businesses out there use Windows. Like it or not.
The reason why this happened is because the CrowdStrike agent is a boot level driver. This means that it gets loaded pretty much before most of anything else, except when you boot in Safe Mode. Then, only absolutely necessary drivers are loaded. You also need Safe Mode to be able to delete the offending file, since in a regular session (when the PC wouldn't crash) the file would be in use and thus locked.
I must admit, when I read about the fix I couldn't believe my eyes. A file with the .sys extension is usually a driver. This means actual executable code. Usually anti-malware and HIPS applications work with some form of pattern file. CrowdStrike really does distribute its "signature" updates as executable code. And therein lies the problem. I don't know how many of you know about coding and pointers in particular, but here goes: CrowdStrike tried to call some code in that update (C-00000291*.sys). The problem was, the file CrowdStrike had pushed contained zeros. Now, when you try to call or dereference a pointer of 0 (nullptr), that just won't fly. Usually, to get around potential nullptrs you make a check for it before trying to use the pointer. You can also use try/catch statements. Apparently, someone at CrowdStrike didn't think this was necessary. And... BOOOM!
At the company I work, we also got hit pretty hard by this issue. While our company is actually on the smaller size, the corporation that owns us uses CrowdStrike. A lot of us are tech-savvy, being developers. Still we weren't able to help ourselves because these days you're not allowed to have admin permissions on your workstation. Our consultants are issued laptops, which, because they're used both on- and off-site, are BitLocker-encrypted. That's not necessarily a problem, because each consultant has their key. What they don't have is the recovery key, which for some reason is needed when you actually manage to get into Repair Mode. We had to have our sys admin take a break from his vacation to help get us up and running again. Many systems are still down, because there only was time to bring the most important ones back on-line.
And yes, this could just as easily have hit *nix and macOS. But the majority of businesses out there use Windows. Like it or not.
, but for some of us here it will make sense.