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LittleSnitch for Linux

obdev.at

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Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#352
post #167

I know it sounds crazy at this point, but with popular YouTubers switching to Linux, gamers overall well-aware of Steam on Linux advantages and switching as well, plus popular software like LittleSnitch getting ported, 2026 can without irony be named as Year of Linux Desktop, right?

[deleted]

Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#354

I'm not a Little Snitch or Open Snitch user, I wonder if these firewalls are able to block requests done with the use of some other, allow-listed program. Say I run a script `suspicious.py' and I deny this script from making any network requests. I also have firefox which is allowed to make any HTTPS requests. If suspicious.py does something like: key = (Path.home() / '.ssh' / 'id_rsa').read_text() subprocess.Popen([…

This gets even more involved when you consider things like loading libraries, there's also the impact of calls like OpenProcess/WriteProcessMemory/CreateRemoteThread (Windows-land versions, though I'm sure similar exists elsewhere).

The "good" Windows firewalls like Outpost and Zone Alarm used to have features to catch this, they'd detect when a process tried to invoke or open a running process which had internet access. They'd also do things like detect when a process tried to write a startup item. This went by names like "Leak Control" but it was basically providing near-complete HIDS features with local control.

Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#355
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Run OpenSnitch for a while and you'll quickly realize how much of your system does phone home. Off the top of my head: - GNOME Shell (extension updates without a way to disable this, weather), - GNOME Calculator (currency exchange rates), - NetworkManager (periodic hotspot portal checks in most configurations), - GDB (debuginfod enabled by default), - Firefox (extension updates, push notifications, feature flags, tel…

Problem with updates is that without automatic ones, users could stay on outdated systems and possibly get hacked through some vulnerability(of which there are many). While on the other hand, having explicit confirmations for each network request would be crazy annoying. Maybe some middleground of having the tool OP sent built-in would be a good option.

I run all my systems with all outgoing connections blocked by default, and yes, it is annoying.

But it wasn't always this way, and so, I don't think it has to be. People just need to start paying attention to this.

The impact of a lot of those vulnerabilities would be mitigated if the affected programs didn't connect to the network in the first place.

As for updates in general, I really like the model adopted by Linux update managers and BSD port systems. The entire repository metadata is downloaded from a mirror and cached locally, so the search terms never leave your machine. Downloads happen from the nearest mirrors, there's no "standard" mirror software (unless rsync and Apache count?) so they don't report what was downloaded by whom back to any central system and you can always host your own. Everything is verified via GPG. And most importantly, nothing happens on its own; you're expected to run `apt/dnf update` yourself. It won't randomly eat your bandwidth on a metered connection or reveal your OS details to a public hotspot.

Simple, non-invasive, transparent, (almost) all-encompassing, and centrally configurable.

Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#356
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are these malware ?

Per se? No, maybe with the exception of GNOME Shell which literally runs code from the Internet unsandboxed. Can the traffic they silently generate be used for malicious purposes? Absolutely.

Wasn’t it KDE that had malware in its theme store not too long ago? Let that sink in for a bit. You changed around some icon themes and it executed arbitrary code.

And let’s not pretend that kde wouldn’t have an extension system if it could - but it’ll never have one because implanting one in that c++ spaghetti nightmare will never happen.

Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#357
post #356
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Per se? No, maybe with the exception of GNOME Shell which literally runs code from the Internet unsandboxed. Can the traffic they silently generate be used for malicious purposes? Absolutely.

Wasn’t it KDE that had malware in its theme store not too long ago? Let that sink in for a bit. You changed around some icon themes and it executed arbitrary code. And let’s not pretend that kde wouldn’t have an extension system if it could - but it’ll never have one because implanting one in that c++ spaghetti nightmare will never happen.

I think you meant to reply to this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47702680

But if not, I'm not criticizing GNOME in isolation here. It's just what I use and what I'm most familiar with. KDE has the same issues and it does have an extension system too. It's called KNewStuff.

Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is saving 4 keystrokes out of ~400 by typing LNX instead of Linux.

But holding the shift key makes up for it, so seems like a bad strategy

You are overthinking it. It is neither a strategy nor keystroke saving (although technically with shift its 4 keystrokes as opposed to 5 for Linux and quite a few saved for Windows). I just typed that without thinking probably because it looks better and reads a bit easier (subjectively).

Re: LittleSnitch for Linux

#360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! Me personally in 2010 would never though about the time when one on every 20 gamers will be Linux user. That is huge IMHO.

I wouldn't be too exited. Statistics like this are very problematic. For example, I have Steam installed on my Macbook pro and I occasionally play a single very simple game there. Does that make me a macOS gamer? of course not. The vast majority of games I want to play don't work on macOS. I suspect that most of those 5% are just Linux users who have steam installed and play a small amount of games. Some probably jus…

Indeed. The bigger problem is also that consistently the most played games are multiplayer competitive titles with anti-cheat software that is only written for Windows (and sometimes MacOS). I suppose this issue will solve itself, once enough people start playing on Linux. Then developers will be forced to support that too in order to not lose too much of their player base, but we are still a far cry from this threshold.
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