Saint Baron Samedit, Lord of the Dead and of sudo

Patron of people who type sudo out of habit, backslashes at the end of the line, and decade-old bugs.

Life

On 26 January 2021 Qualys revealed a heap overflow in sudo, the command sysadmins invoke the most. Calling sudoedit with -s and an argument ending in a backslash was enough to become root, even without being in the sudoers file. It had been there for almost ten years, and the name, blending voodoo's Baron Samedi with sudoedit, suits a saint who raises privileges from the dead.

Prayer

O Saint Baron Samedit, who opens the gates of root with a single backslash, let our sudo ask everyone for the password. Amen.

How to celebrate

Celebrated by updating sudo and, by tradition, wearing a top hat.

One backslash, and the world turns upside down.