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Linux 4.5-rc5: efivarfs fixed to avoid “rm -rf /” bricking UEFI

(git.kernel.org)
279 points the_why_of_y | 1 comments | 22 Feb 16 18:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.274s | source
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devit ◴[22 Feb 16 19:35 UTC] No.11153593[source]▶
It seems to me that the real issue is that "rm -rf" should by default not recurse into mounted filesystems, but should at most try to unmount them.

In addition to clearing EFI variables, the current behavior will also attempt to clear any mounted removable drives and any mounted network drives, which is usually even more harmful than messing with EFI.

Of course that would be a backwards incompatible change, although I don't think many scripts rely on this behavior.

replies(2): >>11153654 #>>11156040 #
1. verbatim ◴[23 Feb 16 02:30 UTC] No.11156040[source]▶
> It seems to me that the real issue is that "rm -rf" should by default not recurse into mounted filesystems, but should at most try to unmount them.

There is a --one-file-system argument that skips directories not on the same filesystem. You could add this layer of protection by adding it to an alias in your shell.