Designing for reuse
Doghouse – FOSS Firmware
Adopting FOSS firmware can keep your hardware out of the landfill.
Recently, an article by Bruce Schneier, CTO of IBM Resilient, came across my desk discussing some of the issues around home broadband routers. Apparently, on May 25th, the FBI asked people to "reboot their routers" as various pieces of malware were running in these routers and causing havoc with the Internet. The malware was very sophisticated, to the point where it had (more or less) a software backplane and could install new "plugins" to create even more mischief. Mr. Schneier stated that the malware was probably not the creation of your classic "basement cracker" but was instead a product of an intense program by a government.
Unfortunately, rebooting the router did not really fix the problem, as the malware was still infecting the lower levels of the router firmware, so at a minimum, the user would have to "reset to factory settings" (destroying the sometimes complex set of configuration and passwords) or (more likely) install new firmware, which is completely outside the abilities of most residential users of broadband routers, even assuming that the makers of the router are still updating the firmware or are even in business.
Mr. Schneier therefore recommended that, if the router does not have firmware updates, the best course of action is to throw away the old router and buy a new one, which is what several of my less computer-savvy friends did.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Digital Autonomy
• How the Fediverse Found Parts for Its Platforms
• The Answer Was Already on the Shelf
• Changing the Chip Industry: How Public Investment Has Grown Open Silicon
• United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
• EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
• France Says “Au Revoir” to Microsoft
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 45 Now Available
The latest iteration of Fedora has arrived with Gnome 51 and KDE Plasma 6.8.
-
Linux 7.4 is "Much Healthier" Thanks to AI
At nearly 42 million lines, Linux 7.4 is the largest merge in the kernel’s history.
-
Working Exploit for a Linux Kernel Flaw Made Public
Even before a bug received its CVE identifier or an upstream fix, the local privilege escalation vulnerability exploit found its way into the wild.
-
r/opensource Bans AI-Assisted and AI-Related Projects
The de facto subreddit for all things open source has not only banned AI-related projects but also users who "don't speak English."
-
Bottlenecks Discovered by Meta Engineers Lead to Scalability Improvements
Thanks to a small group of engineers at Meta, the Linux kernel module kernfs has been improved, which has led to some serious gains.
-
PwnEscape Poses VM Vulnerability
A guest-to-host escape flaw in Linux KVM, named PwnEscape, might be yet another means of attacking Linux.
-
Linux Mint 27 Set for a Christmas Release
The developers behind Linux Mint have announced a Christmas release, and it looks like Santa's sack will be brimming with features.
-
Is Linus Torvalds Vibe Coding?
The creator of Linux has added AI into his process for Linux kernel development, and it's more than just for debugging.
-
openKylin 3.0 Released with Expanded AI Integration
The latest release features a pre-installed AI agent to help perform tasks.
-
DigitalOcean Ends Open Source Credits Program
In a change that has surprised many open source developers, DigitalOcean has decided to sunset its Open Source Credits Program.