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One thing that gets me about the sandbox of flatpak is that it doesn't seem to be up to the user. If the developer of the app chooses the permissions, then ther
by andagainagain 6y ago
One thing that gets me about the sandbox of flatpak is that it doesn't seem to be up to the user. If the developer of the app chooses the permissions, then there isn't a fundamental difference for security from having all permissions anyways.
Ideally a user installs the app and they would know, without reading anything else about the app, that the app is separate from their system. If any app you install is NOT separate from the system, then... the sandbox is like making a giant wall but having a door right in the middle of it.
- takluyver 6y agoYou're thinking about malicious apps, where the developer would just request all permissions they can. But sandboxing is also about limiting the impact of security issues in apps from honest, well meaning developers who (hopefully) won't request more permissions than they need. E.g. if I make a chat app, and it has a bug that lets someone send you a malicious message and execute code in the app, then a sandbox is a really good thing. The developer also sets the default permissions - in principle, the user can change these before running the app. Of course, not many users will do that, but there are still cases where it can make a difference.