this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2024
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This is a vulnerability in shim, which is a UEFI "bootloader" used by distros mainly to allow booting with the "stock" (Microsoft) secure boot keys.

If you don't use secure boot or don't use shim (likely if you use your own keys), this doesn't affect you at all.

In any case this "critical vulnerability" mainly affects machines relying on shim which also boot over unencrypted HTTP.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Would this affect systems booting to the refind bootloader without secure boot? Sorry for the ignorance just trying to figure out if I should be changing my system for this news.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

No.

This is a vulnerability which allows bypassing secure boot protections. You have already manually bypassed those protections by disabling secure boot.