this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024

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“Something has gone seriously wrong,” dual-boot systems warn after Microsoft update (arstechnica.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

168 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Last Tuesday, loads of Linux users—many running packages released as early as this year—started reporting their devices were failing to boot. Instead, they received a cryptic error message that included the phrase: “Something has gone seriously wrong.”

The cause: an update Microsoft issued as part of its monthly patch release. It was intended to close a 2-year-old vulnerability in GRUB, an open source boot loader used to start up many Linux devices. The vulnerability, with a severity rating of 8.6 out of 10, made it possible for hackers to bypass secure boot, the industry standard for ensuring that devices running Windows or other operating systems don’t load malicious firmware or software during the bootup process. CVE-2022-2601 was discovered in 2022, but for unclear reasons, Microsoft patched it only last Tuesday.

...

The reports indicate that multiple distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OS, Puppy Linux, are all affected. Microsoft has yet to acknowledge the error publicly, explain how it wasn’t detected during testing, or provide technical guidance to those affected. Company representatives didn’t respond to an email seeking answers.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

It ain't done til GRUB don't run?

[–] [email protected] 54 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This sort of ridiculousness is why I got two seperate drives (needed the extra space anyways) and choose which one to boot from the mobo EFI menu.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 8 months ago (3 children)

windows update can and will always find your dual boot eventually and break it

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[–] [email protected] 118 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"secure" boot, the industry standard for ensuring that devices don't run software other than Windows during the bootup process

FTFY

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[+] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I thought the whole point of the Quest is that it’s a standalone device that runs games untethered?

[+] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Sadly, no, the Oculus software suite is Windows only, no exceptions. If there are a couple must-plays on your list that are Oculus Store only, you'll have to keep Windows around. Who knows, maybe someday there will be some workaround, but that's not the case at the moment.

The good news is, for anything that isn't exclusive, ie on Steam or even Epic/GOG, there are options. I use a piece of software called ALVR. You install the ALVR server on your PC and the client on your Quest 2 (look into how to use Sidequest if you havent already). You launch both pieces of software, launch SteamVR on your PC, make sure the ALVR server sees it, connect the Quest client to the server, and voila, wireless PCVR on Linux. I'd say the performance is at ~85% of what you could expect on Windows natively, give or take 5 or 10% depending on your setup. By no means unplayable.

There is also OpenComposite. I know much less about this so it would be worth doing some research, but it basically bypasses SteamVR entirely. This would be especially handy for, for example, a VR game installed via Heroic Launcher (Epic, GOG, and Amazon games), where getting a game that requires SteamVR to actually see SteamVR would be a huge headache due to the separate prefixes/wine versions. There may be a way to accomplish that, but from what I can tell, OpenComposite is specifically designed to help avoid those headaches.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

I'm sure it was a terrible misunderstanding.

Anyway they are only hurting themselves.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago

Jokes on Microsoft. I downgraded to Windows 10 and disabled secure boot for my dual boot so I could be one step closer to being done with them completely.

[–] [email protected] 83 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Secure Boot is bullshit anyway

[–] [email protected] 30 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It is fine if you only accept signatures from yourself. However, that's a lot of work as you need to sign everything.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How is it a lot of work? There's generally one sig you have to add on installing a new OS. Sometimes, rarely, one for a new kernel module. It's not like you sign every single package you boot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

Still takes work. You also need to disable all other keys if you want it to matter in terms of security.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

Good luck replacing the PKI on your system's Secure Boot firmware. Most platforms probably don't support it and have no documentation

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

😈😈 Finally an advantage to using rEFInd 😈😈

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was gonna say, I don’t like to victim blame but why would people be grubbing around these days to begin with?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I use Debian and I also was affected by this Windows update. I was able to boot by disabling secure boot. I also found this option that apparently fixes the problem by changing the sbat policy using mokutil. But I haven't tried it out yet. Has anyone got any luck with something else besides disabling secure boot?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Windows into a VM

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