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Honest question: how does this firmware spyware affect Linux? If I get a ThinkPad and overwrite the pre-installed OS with my own, would spyware like this be abl
by aorth 5y ago
Honest question: how does this firmware spyware affect Linux? If I get a ThinkPad and overwrite the pre-installed OS with my own, would spyware like this be able to do anything on Linux?
I guess they could do the same thing, extract some binary from the firmware pre-boot and inject it to /boot to mess with the boot process... but does that give them viable persistence and ability to do stuff in Linux once the OS is booted?
- zozbot234 5y agoThe "anti-theft" firmware exploits a Windows misfeature where the BIOS can include stuff that Windows will simply install automatically at boot. So it wouldn't directly affect Linux just yet. But firmware can do other shenanigans that would render any system fundamentally insecure (e.g. via SMM).
- squarefoot 5y agoThis is something that could be addressed by coreboot/libreboot, but it will probably require some time until most recent models are supported. https://www.coreboot.org/ https://www.coreboot.org/
- jopsen 5y agoIdeally it should if you format your laptop. But the problem is working with a vendor that has a track record for compromising its customers. How do you know they aren't inserting backdoors in the firmware? The problem is the lack of trust. To be fair, I'm still spotting an X1, but next time I might consider librem, or something else.
- gonzo41 5y agoEveryone who's calling out Lenovo should be calling out apple and talking about how they can't use any apple product lines, for the same security concerns. Nothing is safe!
- jopsen 5y ago> Nothing is safe! I'm no Apple fan, but I certainly have a special level of distrust in anything based in China.