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If the messages are managed on the two ends of the channel by a closed source binary that does who-knows-what. The meme/trope is that you can't possibly know w
by pvg 1y ago
If the messages are managed on the two ends of the channel by a closed source binary that does who-knows-what.
The meme/trope is that you can't possibly know what such an app does without the source. It just isn't true. There'd be no meaningful phone vulnerability research if it was.
- lordofgibbons 1y agoYou're assuming the vuln researcher has access to the backdoored binary. That's not necessarily the case. Imagine if they pushed an update of the app out with the vuln to only some users, or users in {country} in their app release configs
- pvg 1y agoImagine if they pushed an update of the app out with the vuln to only some users, or users in {country} in their app release configs "Imagine an arbitrarily powerful adversary operating in arbitrarily narrow, undetectable ways" is not meaningful threat modeling beside being a kind of Universal Goalpost Moving technique. It is not a 'meme' that WhatsApp is e2e encrypted if that's the form and content of your objection. The other thing is still the meme!
- lordofgibbons 1y ago> "Imagine an arbitrarily powerful adversary operating in arbitrarily narrow, undetectable ways Imagine reading the docs. It's a literal thing you can do by pushing code down to the mobile client from your server. We do this all the time for our app. I'm not sure what you're arguing.
- tptacek 1y agoAt the very least, "closed source" has nothing to do with your objection, which is in fact about build provenance.