Some Logitech Hardware Can Now Be Flashed Under Linux With Fwupd

[Adarion]

Yes for FW updates in general but not sure about some daemon that does things automatically. I've read how W10 bricked machines by just applying (the wrong) FW updates. I understand that there might be a need for inexperienced users, but FW flashing should normally be done with conscience and carefully. Something just randomly flashing FW on my devices... uuuh.

[notanoob]

I've always avoided wireless mice as well as keyboards because I always suspected some kind of attack was possible.

You aint seen nothing yet about input based 'attacks' in the case of this http://tasvideos.org/3358M.html it is some epic stuff. All possible on a original gameboy.

[RahulSundaram]

Yes for FW updates in general but not sure about some daemon that does things automatically. I've read how W10 bricked machines by just applying (the wrong) FW updates. I understand that there might be a need for inexperienced users, but FW flashing should normally be done with conscience and carefully. Something just randomly flashing FW on my devices... uuuh.

You seem confused. Nothing is happening here automatically.

[Eliasvan]

I wonder whether the performance of this firmware updater is better than the Windows version.
When I made my firmware updater for the G920 and G29 steering wheels,
the performance for the G920 was the same as on Windows,
while the performance for the G29 was 10 times better than on Windows (~5s vs ~60s).

[LaeMing]

I've always avoided wireless mice as well as keyboards because I always suspected some kind of attack was possible. ... .

I have never seen the point in wireless keyboards, myself. Wireless mouse I can see gets the cord out of the way of a device that is designed to be moved about. Though I use a trackball anyway and prefer wired for everything. I do like keyboards with USB hubs, though, so I don't have a huge bundle of cables going from my desk-HIDs to the back of my PC.

[DrYak]

Still, I never knew a mouse dongle could be fed keyboard input to send inbound content.

Because, in logitech's case, the "Unifying receiver" isn't actually a mouse dongle.
It's a WiUSB (or another wireless USB. I've forgotten exactly which standard Logitech did buy for their peripheral. Just it was lower power and lower latency back when they introduced the standard. Nowadays Bluetooth 4 Smart is on par, and some of Logitech's device actually support both protocols: e.g.: their "MX Master" series of mice)

Thus it can be paired with various type of devices.
The firmware in the unifying receiver is able to pair with mice and keyboards. Any mice and keyboards, not only the thing it came packaged with.
(And If I'm not wrong, they also have gamepads and headset for online voice chat that can use it)
Hence the "unifying" moniker: Instead of having a forest of 10 different dongle, one for every type of device, you just plug 1 dongle and pair all your devices to it.
The other USB ports are left free.
(Kind of the same idea as Bluetooth, except it was another standard)

The computer will automatically see the wireless devices as standard USB HID peripheral, etc. so it works out of the box even without drivers.
(that's the small difference with bluetooth. Normal bluetooth requires special support from the OS, though there are "dual-mode" Bluetooth dongle, that can auto-pair with a device and masquerade as a USB HID until the OS with its drivers kicks in - e.g. the diNovo serie from Logitech).

Normally, there's a procedure to add other device that weren't paired, a bit similar to Bluetooth pairing.
But apparently hacker have found a way to circumvent it and auto-add a keyboard without user confirmation.

I had been concerned with passive monitoring of the user's own activities, which is dangerous enough.

In *theory*, both Bluetooth and Logitech Unifying protocols use encryption.
(But don't depend on it for critical situations. I'm sure somebody somewhere is trying to find a way to crack it).
As you said : hard to trust closed source encryption.
(or even an opensource implementation of a b0rked standard. see Wifi WEP)

We are never more than one terrorist attack away from legally mandated backdoors in the kind of encryption that is bought and sold. Open source encryption, by comparison, is one terror attack away from finding one or more countries where the project website cannot be hosted, a far lesser threat.

Well, Logitech's are in Europe, in Lausanne (Switzerland). A country that - although not direct member of the european union - still takes privacy very seriously.
It's going to be hard to pressure them into putting backdoors.

(Though part of their manufacturing has moved to china over the years. So it's possible that the original backdoor-free swiss firmware is secretely patched with chinese backdoors before leaving factory).

Also, I've seen in the past noticeably different editions in US and EU of logitech hardware.
(Might be simply different plants)
(Might also mean that Logitech could distribute a US edition with the US mandated "Patriotic Protection of People's Democracy Act"-backdoors, and a EU version that respects local privacy rules).

I have never seen the point in wireless keyboards, myself.

The key word is "home theater PC (HTPC)" (and actually any other hardware that can support USB keybaord : home gaming console like Wii, etc.)
The device is tucked under the TV,
you sit comfortably on the couch and can take the keyboard (or a thumb keyboard pad)
whenever you need to type thing (e.g.: in the search box, when you need to search for movie in netflix/youtube).

[DrYak]

Yes for FW updates in general but not sure about some daemon that does things automatically. I've read how W10 bricked machines by just applying (the wrong) FW updates. I understand that there might be a need for inexperienced users, but FW flashing should normally be done with conscience and carefully.

According to the blog post,
Logitech provided them with all the necessary docs, guinea pig hardware, and access to original dev team,
and thus this fwupd module actually implements the exact protocol used by Logitech that *does* include proper version checking.
There's no way to flash the wromg FW update.
(But there's way to flash a genuinely buggy firmware by Logitech).

[tweak42]

I have never seen the point in wireless keyboards, myself. Wireless mouse I can see gets the cord out of the way of a device that is designed to be moved about. Though I use a trackball anyway and prefer wired for everything. I do like keyboards with USB hubs, though, so I don't have a huge bundle of cables going from my desk-HIDs to the back of my PC.

I use a Logitech keyboard/touchpad with their unified adapter for my raspberry pi's, and I have seen others RasPi users using them as well. It's particularly handy with setting up a Pi Zero since it only has 1 usb port for keyboard and mouse.

Also I occasionally for my server which mostly runs headless and any temp desktops I have on the cluttered bench for repair.

I wasn't even aware there was a security update for these Logitech adapters, so I'll have to look trying to update in linux.

[theghost]

Last time I checked Logitech wireless device support for Linux, a Windows installation was still necessary to pair your device with the unified receiver once after buy.
Is this still the case or does it work out of the box nowadays? Or do I need yet another third party tool?

[Tomin]

Last time I checked Logitech wireless device support for Linux, a Windows installation was still necessary to pair your device with the unified receiver once after buy.
Is this still the case or does it work out of the box nowadays? Or do I need yet another third party tool?

I think this can be done with Solaar, but it's a third party tool. Logitech was kind enough to give protocol documentation to the developer though.

https://github.com/pwr/Solaar