Comme=
nt # 28
on bug 10030=
6
from MirceaKitsune
After another two weeks of absence, the issue was apparently r=
eimplemented on
top of Kernel 4.11.3 + Mesa 17.1.1 + Plasma 5.10.0, likely sometime during =
the
last few days. The behavior is once again identical, with alt-tab switching=
or
desktop effects causing everything but the mouse pointer to freeze then aft=
er
10 seconds the monitor shuts down. Other unrelated GPU crashes (such as tho=
se
caused by some games) behave by the classic model, where the entire system
simple freezes in place at once... that's a very different result from this
freeze, and likely confirms this is a different type of crash.
At this point I have almost no doubt this is an attack that's being
deliberately programmed, and manually reimplemented on top of new drivers o=
nce
it gets fixed. The cycle seems to be that a kernel or driver update resolves
the issue, then the creators of the crash require about two weeks to patch =
it
and reimplement the exact same functionality. This is the 4th time the story
repeats.
I tried steering away from this possibility until I was sure, as I didn't w=
ant
it triggering any unnecessary arguments... if this is an attack then
investigating it as such might help in finding its source more quickly. The=
re's
simply no way something this precise could happen by itself for nearly half=
an
year, always coming back with the exact same effects after a period of
absence... all despite radical changes to nearly every driver and system
component, which would have no doubt altered the behavior of the initial
problem in some form. Therefore I hope everyone can see why I'm now going w=
ith
this theory and greatly considering the option of malicious intent.
I have no idea how the virus (?) could be updated on my computer, as it's
likely not through the package update system directly. However I suspect it=
's
using a constant series of vulnerabilities in one or more system components,
which should be fixed by the developers if they exist. I would appreciate a=
ny
ideas on both how the malicious code might be inserted into the computer, as
well as finding the vulnerability within radeon / Mesa / X11 / etc that it
exploits. Please let me know what your thoughts are!