←back to thread

Remotely Compromising Android and iOS via a bug in Broadcom's WI-FI Chipsets

(blog.exodusintel.com)
387 points pedro84 | 6 comments | 26 Jul 17 19:51 UTC | HN request time: 0.268s | source | bottom
Show context
thomastjeffery ◴[26 Jul 17 23:00 UTC] No.14861166[source]▶
Why does Broadcom insist on proprietary drivers?

How could it possibly be detrimental for Broadcom to have free software drivers?

This article is a poignant example that it is detrimental for them to continue to keep their drivers proprietary.

replies(6): >>14861174 #>>14861519 #>>14862058 #>>14863796 #>>14867469 #>>14871284 #
whowouldathunk ◴[26 Jul 17 23:01 UTC] No.14861174[source]▶
The drivers are probably pretty complicated and thus valuable IP.
replies(2): >>14861236 #>>14867384 #
thomastjeffery ◴[26 Jul 17 23:15 UTC] No.14861236[source]▶
I don't buy that.

Every wifi chipset has working drivers; therefore there is little to no value in Broadcom's driver as "IP".

Contrast that to the value of having a free driver that can receive security patches from anyone at any time.

replies(6): >>14861326 #>>14861646 #>>14862004 #>>14862013 #>>14862510 #>>14863716 #
1. johncolanduoni ◴[26 Jul 17 23:29 UTC] No.14861326[source]▶
Every GPU has working drivers, but optimizations within them can make huge differences in performance on the same hardware.
replies(3): >>14861387 #>>14861468 #>>14861658 #
2. thomastjeffery ◴[26 Jul 17 23:40 UTC] No.14861387[source]▶
Comparing a Wifi chipset to a video card is like comparing a bicycle to a sports car.
3. monocasa ◴[26 Jul 17 23:55 UTC] No.14861468[source]▶
The driver 'optimizations' in GPUs tend to boil down to hand written replacements for unoptimal/broken shaders and API call sequences on a per application basis.

I expect a network card to not 'interpret' my traffic in a similar way.

replies(2): >>14861597 #>>14861620 #
4. vvanders ◴[27 Jul 17 00:18 UTC] No.14861597[source]▶
As someone who spent a ton of time in this space(working with most mobile GPU vendors from Android E to L) you're talking about things just at the surface.

The way the drivers + backing architecture are built contains tons of IP and things that they would very much not want their competitors seeing.

Our team built our reputation and relationship on keeping that data separate and confidential despite working with just about every vendor out there.

5. agumonkey ◴[27 Jul 17 00:23 UTC] No.14861620[source]▶
Adding the double blind optimizations leading to absurdly complex drivers that tries to guess how user code tries to guess driver logic... maybe vulkan will help open source GPU drivers in the end.
6. fulafel ◴[27 Jul 17 00:30 UTC] No.14861658[source]▶
GPU drivers are very bug ridden and 3D apps can easily cause OS crashes. Apps are tested so they don't trigger those bugs. Witness all the complaint comments on webgl posts about machine crashes - and that's with a thick driver bug workaround layer in browsers.