Re: Open source Atheros wifi? (ath10k)
Please do not top post.
On Sat, Jan 16, 2021 at 01:19:21PM -0500, Steven Mainor wrote:
> My main concern for the laptop in question is security. So from a
> security standpoint, what is the difference between using a wifi card
> with built in closed source firmware, and closed source firmware that
> is loaded by the kernel like ath10k.
The manufacturer's ability to change of said firmware the most arbitrary
way possible, like others said.
For instance (purely theoretical, no known cases) how would you like
your WiFi adapter to transform into a WiFi adapter + Wifi Access Point
combo with well-known pre-shared key?
> Either way the firmware is only running on the card, Not the CPU,
> correct?
Yes, but to pump all those 802.11 frames to and from the kernel's queue
the driver needs to map a certain amount of host memory. Such
allocations can be audited (the driver's source is available, after
all), but it won't be the first case of a kernel's module doing memory
allocations without care.
> Obviously neither is ideal but is either less secure?
If you need your own, controlled 802.11 hardware, you need something
like [1]. I won't call it consumer-friendly, and the price of the needed
hardware is orders of magnitude higher than a usual PCI-X WiFi card, and
of course there are multiple interoperability questions, but it's here
already.
[1] https://www.nuand.com/bladeRF-wiphy/
Reco
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