Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft and Its Boosters Worsen Linux Security

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 01, 2023

The circus goes on and on. Latest:

UEFI flaws allow bootkits to pwn potentially hundreds of devices using images: Secure? But whose standards?

Hundreds of consumer and enterprise devices are potentially vulnerable to bootkit exploits through unsecured BIOS image parsers.

Security researchers have identified vulnerabilities in UEFI system firmware from major vendors which they say could allow attackers to hijack poorly maintained image libraries to quietly deliver malicious payloads that bypass Secure Boot, Intel Boot Guard, AMD Hardware-Validated Boot, and others.

Dubbed "LogoFail," we're told the set of vulnerabilities allows attackers to use malicious image files that are loaded by the firmware during the boot phase as a means of quietly delivering payloads such as bootkits.

The vulnerabilities affect the image parsing libraries used by various firmware vendors, most of which are exposed to the flaws, according to the researchers at Binarly.

Image parsers are firmware components responsible for loading logos of vendors, or workplaces in cases where work-issued machines are configured to do so, flashing them on the display as the machine boots.

THE article above was shared just moments ago in IRC (by Sompi). It's yet another one of many such revelations and incidents. It's important to distinguish real, inherent security (auditable, reproducible, small and simple enough to exhaustively traverse and learn) from marketing junk and junk science. One need not go far back in time (just over a week) to grasp perils of Windows and shortcomings of fingerprint biometrics - i.e. quasi-futuristic security theatrics and gimmicks.

Where does this end? What happened to proper engineering?

The Microsofters like to break things and block Linux from booting and installing. Of course they call this whole charade "security" and anyone who questions their motives is "against security" or "homophobic" or something to that effect... so do not ever criticise what they do. Questioning Microsoft is an act of intolerance and disregard for the supposed needs of "Big Users" of Linux...

It should be noted that Microsoft's Poettering is pushing similar things and worse via systemd (even TPM). We covered this before. It'll get worse over time. As one reader put it some hours ago: "The Poettering-driven merge of /usr/bin and /bin is going to cause a tremendous amount of further damage to both the technological base as well as the community and add a lot of unnecessary effort."

This reader moreover cited "The collapse of Debian" - an ongoing discussion that relates to the above. And "there is a good three-point summary further down on the first page," this reader said, though to quote the top part: "Fedora and Ubuntu has nothing on what Debian was, and Debian is no longer what it was. We no longer have in our midst that which we used to have, and now more than ever need."

Almost all my machines run Debian and I heard that Debian 12 can be tough on some desktops/laptops. Heck, this site's server runs Debian 12, but so far no major issue. 4 Debian Developers have been added in 2 months, so one can hope the project can survive and thrive in an age when both IBM and Canonical push Microsoft agenda.

While GNU/Linux usage sure is increasing [1, 2], both in homes and businesses, the freedom of it is being compromised and security intentionally sabotaged (hence, many consider or move to BSD). It's rapidly becoming yet another back-doored platform that is vulnerable enough to be deemed "enterprise-ready" by the likes of the NSA.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
 
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day
Coming Soon: Another OSI Scandal, This One Implicating Molly de Blanc
OSI has been fairly quiet lately
Outreachy & Debian pregnancy cluster, Meike Reichle evidence
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Again, "Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People"
Microsoft Lunduke is not trying to "protect" Linux
XBox is Rapidly Turned Into a Slopfarm by Microsoft
Slop isn't about efficiency and saving money
One of the Most Hilarious Things About the Microsoft SLAPPs
It's so ridiculous
Financial Support for the Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project
The FSF has extended until Friday its fund-raising campaign
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
unlawful communications like threats
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day