AI finds 20-year-old bugs in PostgreSQL and MariaDB

Open-source databases are facing a bit of a memory problem as AI helps surface decades-old buffer overflow issues in widely used components. Security researchers have disclosed a set of high and critical-severity vulnerabilities affecting PostgreSQL and MariaDB, with two bugs reportedly tracing their roots back more than 20 years. At Wiz’s zeroday.cloud hacking event, researchers…

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Diskless databases: What happens when storage isn’t the bottleneck

In 2021, I was developing software for an aerospace manufacturer and met with our machine learning team to discuss innovative approaches for tracking FOD (free-orbiting debris), a major security and operational concern in the industry. What struck me wasn’t the algorithms or tracking equipment, but the terabytes of data (up to petabytes) that were being…

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Vibe coding or spec-driven development?

Vibe coding and spec-driven development (SDD) are two emerging approaches where devops teams use AI to develop all of an application’s code. There are discussions about which approach to use for different use cases, and there are many platforms to consider with varying capabilities and experiences. Some experts question whether AI delivers reliable, maintainable applications,…

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The agentic AI distraction

I’ve been watching the cloud market long enough to know when a useful innovation becomes a strategic distraction. That’s what is happening now with agentic AI. The concept itself is not the issue. There is real value in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems that can coordinate tasks, assist developers, optimize workflows, and eventually reduce the amount…

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