Linux To Try Again To Disable All RNDIS Protocol Drivers

[geearf]

WTF?
Don't tell me that Android USB tethering will stop working because of this?
How the fuck are we going to install newer Linux kernels and Realtek firmware on recent laptops with no ethernet port that have an 802.11AX Wifi adapter, which doesn't work unless you first upgrade the Linux kernel to at least 6.2 and install newer Realtek firmware?
This already happened with a friend's laptop and the only way to have an internet connection to fix the Wifi adapter was to use Android's USB tethering.

Can't you download the packages you need on your phone and then copy them over to your desktop? It doesn't seem like you need tethering for certain. That's what I usually do when I break an install and need to fix it.

He can try pushing this upstream, and I will be back on Windows faster than he can blink if it passes.

Oh no, please do not do do that!

[Sonadow]

He can try pushing this upstream, and I will be back on Windows faster than he can blink if it passes.

[tpiepho]

This will not impact existing devices at all

For future devices, Google can either patch the kernel, or manufacturers can patch the kernel, or (unfortunately) consumers can be forced to throw away insecure/affordable networking adapters and buy new ones

You've got it backwards. This is about removing the driver used on a desktop or a laptop to tether to a phone. It will affect existing devices. You won't be able to tether an existing phone, or a new one either for that matter, to your laptop anymore. Not because the phone changed, but because the laptop kennel no longer has the necessary driver. Unless you have a pixel 7 or 8, those are the only phones that will still work.

[zexelon]

WTF?
Don't tell me that Android USB tethering will stop working because of this?
How the fuck are we going to install newer Linux kernels and Realtek firmware on recent laptops with no ethernet port that have an 802.11AX Wifi adapter, which doesn't work unless you first upgrade the Linux kernel to at least 6.2 and install newer Realtek firmware?
This already happened with a friend's laptop and the only way to have an internet connection to fix the Wifi adapter was to use Android's USB tethering.

Hey this is Linux... usability, compatibility, and any level of care for the user it absolutely at the bottom of the core dev's list of things to care about. If you want things to work... and stay working... dont use Linux... your basically screwed these days with all the GPL zealotry.

[Danny3]

WTF?
Don't tell me that Android USB tethering will stop working because of this?
How the fuck are we going to install newer Linux kernels and Realtek firmware on recent laptops with no ethernet port that have an 802.11AX Wifi adapter, which doesn't work unless you first upgrade the Linux kernel to at least 6.2 and install newer Realtek firmware?
This already happened with a friend's laptop and the only way to have an internet connection to fix the Wifi adapter was to use Android's USB tethering.

[timofonic]

This smells disaster!

Michael please write about it. It needs to be known.

[ezst036]

..... disable all Microsoft Remote Network Driver Interface Specification (RNDIS) drivers.......

Have any Microsoft Linux kernel developers been spotted which are addressing this?

[willmore]

What's insecure about this? If I own both devices and plug them together, am I vulnerable to something? Or is the thread that 'some foreign device can be plugged into your trusted one and your device will trust the foreign device and accept it as a network interface'? Because the latter is simply "you're holding it worng". Are getting rid of USB/HID? I can plug a hostile device into your trusted one and you'll trust my device if it claims to be HID.

[Eirikr1848]

GKH doesn't care. Last time it came up on the mailing list any objections to this disabling hardware were either ignored or contended that there is no solution to the problem so it should be disabled anyway. Quoting my post from the last time this came up on Phoronix:



The Google network engineer correctly asserted that many Android devices still only use the RNDIS gadget and thus require the RNDIS driver on the host in order for USB tethering to function, and that Android hasn't had this disabled and it's entirely on what the SoC vendor supports. GKH continues to ignore this and assumes Android has ceased using it, which is not true.

I don't know the currently supported protocols on recent phones like the Galaxy S23, but new Android phones are still a small drop in the bucket of billions of older Android devices.

As I said last time we're probably going to see distributions continue to use RNDIS and just revert the patch if it does make it in, as it would be a very breaking change for users relying on RNDIS to update and then have no internet and no recourse.

So removed at the kernel level but available via module for distros (or users) to install when needed?

Seems like a compromise

[jokeyrhyme]

For Android, the kernel version is frozen years before the device even hits shelves, they practically never get new kernel updates, only backported fixes for vulnerabilties (when we're lucky)

This will not impact existing devices at all

For future devices, Google can either patch the kernel, or manufacturers can patch the kernel, or (unfortunately) consumers can be forced to throw away insecure/affordable networking adapters and buy new ones