Mastodawn

RootWyrm 🇺🇦

@davidgerard people shouldn't buy OnePlus in the first place, because holy shit what garbage devices. Which get completely abandoned in 12 months or less.

David Chisnall (*Now with 50% more sarcasm!*)Jan 24

@rootwyrm @davidgerard

My last two phones have been theirs because they are well supported by LineageOS. I'd still be using the 5T if it hadn't taken an unexpected trip through the washer dryer. The 9Pro that replaced it is also decent hardware.

Their Android version is awful, but easy to replace.

FoolishOwl Jan 24

@david_chisnall @rootwyrm @davidgerard I bought one because I'd read how OnePlus supported the use of alternate OS images and made it easy to root the phone. I found out after I'd bought the phone that it wasn't true of that model or any later ones.

Dune (1987), but regular time Jan 25

@foolishowl

ugh this happened to me too. i had OP 1, loved it. 15 years later I got the 12 and then looked into a custom os

🍀March Mastodoness🍀Jan 24

@rootwyrm @davidgerard Seconded. Bought a OnePlus 7 a few years ago to run #DivestOS, and it shit the bed 6 months after.

https://www.privacyguides.org/en/android/

Android - Privacy Guides

Our advice for replacing privacy-invasive default Android features with private and secure alternatives.

Privacy Guides

Derrick Jan 24

@davidgerard Man, my OnePlus 3 was one of the best phones I owned. What a shame.

Big Kumera Energy Jan 25

@derrickb @davidgerard my 3T was great and lasted many years. But that was back when they still remembered they needed customers to want their hardware.

ahoyboyhoy Jan 24

@davidgerard don't think that's unique to OnePlus...

ahoyboyhoy Jan 24

@davidgerard I see the OnePlus feature is bit more draconian though. My Fairphone 6 is the first device I've owned with a similar feature.

Frederic Jan 24

@ahoyboyhoy Uhm, what? Was planning to replace my old phone with a Fairphone. Can you please elaborate?

#Fairphone #Android #customrom

Bastian Jan 24

@frederic @ahoyboyhoy It's not like that. I think it's about the security level, which got mixed up here. Each Android ROM has a certain security level (=date). You can install any compatible ROM on a Fairphone 6. But locking the bootloader only works if the security level of the new ROM is higher (=newer) than the sec. level of the previous ROM. After locking the bootloader, you won't be able to re-flash the previous ROM. As long as you don't lock the bootloader, you're safe.
And it's an Android feature, as far as I know. Nothing Fairphone specific.

Frederic Jan 24

@bastian_S @ahoyboyhoy Thanks for clarifying! 👍

Dave Wilburn

@bastian_S @frederic @ahoyboyhoy

So am I correct that this is intended to prevent a downgrade attack, so that a malicious party couldn't grab a phone, load an old firmware with known vulnerabilities, and compromise the device?

Bastian Jan 24

@DaveMWilburn @frederic @ahoyboyhoy I think that's being prevented.

On the other hand... doesn't flashing a different ROM require wiping the device afterwards? So there wouldn't be much left to be compromised. (I might be totally wrong here, since I'm not that much into Android.)

Dave Wilburn

@bastian_S @frederic @ahoyboyhoy

That is aligned with my (limited) knowledge as well. I'm not sure what would survive a firmware downgrade that would be useful to an attacker on a typical Android device.

ahoyboyhoy Jan 24

@DaveMWilburn @bastian_S @frederic maybe not typical usage, but with an unlocked bootloader it's trivial to boot or flash an arbitrary boot partition (kernel).

Rairii

@davidgerard "they burned an anti-downgrade fuse" tends to mean a very interesting (usually security-related) fix, usually in some early-boot component

Frost, wolf of winter 🐺🎄

@davidgerard /Yikes./

panu Jan 24

@davidgerard
Something doesn't check out.

So there are fuses in Qualcomm SoCs that can somehow be blown from the software? Fuses that, if blown, _only_ prevent installation of certain operating systems, but have no other effect on the functioning of the device?

I have a hard time believing whoever wrote that piece knows what a fuse is.

panu Jan 24

@davidgerard
Ah, nevermind. Should've read the article before commenting.

That's pretty fuck up. I'd say you should not buy anything with a Qualcomm SoC in it.

@shadowdancer @davidgerard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmable_ROM

Florian Wesch Jan 24

Programmable ROM - Wikipedia

xethos Jan 24

@davidgerard > Any subsequent attempt to install older firmware results in a permanent "hard brick" - the device becomes unusable.

> the January 2026 deployment of firmware updates

I honestly can't tell what's more egregious, that it's an update to change what you already bought, or that this is coming from the brand that partnered with, and launched a phone running, CyanogenMod

Benedikt Ritter (he/him)Jan 24

@davidgerard wtf

Jurkis 🇱🇹Jan 24

@davidgerard manau, ES išpistų už tokius dalykus; Color OS yra skirta CN rinkai.
Beje, kaip tik neseniai nusipirkau OnePlus 13 (trečias telefonas iš jų), jaučiu kokybę šiek tiek santykinai žemesnę palyginus su OnePlus One.

David Fleetwood - RG Admin Jan 24

@davidgerard Samsung has been doing this for a long time now. I hate efuses.

2xfo Jan 24

@davidgerard
So the fuse burns if it sees a lower version number.
Can version numbers be bigger? 🤔

Dag Ågren ↙︎↙︎↙︎Jan 24

@RnDanger @davidgerard Not quite. A new firmware will burn the fuses to mark the phone as "needs at least version X". The bootloader will compare the version loaded with the fuses and reject it if it is older than what the fuses say.

It's not downgrading that burns fuses, it's upgrading.

Xipher Jan 24

@davidgerard This sort of chip level bricking stuff is total bullshit and shouldn't be legal on any level what so ever.

Kerplunk Jan 24

@davidgerard

Thank you for the Info, I had been looking toward purchasing a one plus device.

Now one Plus and OPPO are off my shopping list.

<eleanor>Jan 24

@davidgerard i just got one because it was the best priced rootable phone god fucking dammit

<eleanor>Jan 24

@davidgerard oh nvm, i can still use the oem bootloader and get into lineage so i don't care for my purposes i guess lol

caravantravellers 🌈Jan 24

@davidgerard

No hardware should allow to be bricked by a software command.

Pavel Machek Jan 24

@davidgerard Actually, yes, you should buy #OnePlus 6. It is very well supported phone by mainline kernel, and they are getting real cheap now. You may want to avoid anything newer than that :-).

Mr. Lance E Sloan (IRL) 👤Jan 24

@davidgerard
I didn't know anything about that device, but I'm guessing that preemptively replacing the fuse before ROM changes is not an option. Is that right?

Leeloo Jan 24

@davidgerard
So if I buy a OnePlus and it gets a tiny scratch, I just need to to attempt a downgrade and return it for a warranty replacement🤔

(Yes, I live in a country where they would have to prove that the fault is not said fuse to refuse a warranty claim).

Gemma ⭐️🔰🇺🇸 🇵🇭 🎐Jan 24

@davidgerard Never buy anything Qualcomm again. They are the ones who put this mechanism in their CPUs.

"The anti-rollback mechanism uses Qfprom, a region on Qualcomm processors containing one-time programmable electronic fuses. These microscopic components are physically altered when "blown"; a controlled voltage pulse permanently changes the fuse's state from "0" to "1." This change cannot be reversed by any software means."

kmohrf (er/he)Jan 25

@gcvsa eFuses are common in chips and don't necessarily have to be anti-consumer. I for one burned Ethernet MAC addresses into them.

S Jan 25

@gcvsa @davidgerard It's really difficult to avoid Qualcomm though... If you're not in the US you'll most likely get Exynos in a Samsung, but they still have similar efuses. You could go for Apple, if you're okay with them giving gold bribes to Trump. Or Google's phones, if you're okay with all the shit they're doing on other fronts (and being yet another American company). I guess MediaTek remains, but those SOCs are in, what, a few OPPO phones? The company that owns OnePlus last time I heard. I guess Xiaomi, Realme and Motorola might still have a few budget phones with MediaTek. Are they any good with security patches yet? It's depressing. Have I missed any other brands?

fox /dev/random Jan 24

@davidgerard
comparison of new oneplus phones vs legendary smasnug galayx S3:
Official PMos support?: smasnug yes, new oneplus (brick) no
Can run genshin impact?: smasnug no, oneplus yes
Has 3.5mm jack? smasnug yes, oneplus no
Removable battery? smasnug yes, oneplus no
Conclusion: smasnug s3 wins

Mirppc Jan 24

@davidgerard well bugger. i was looking at a OnePlus. Time to get a Fairphone then :|

Red Hood Jan 24

@davidgerard
Wow... how the glim glam have fallen. Definitely passing on that.

Dudula the Dud Jan 24

@davidgerard My phones over the last 6 years have been Oneplus. Looks like I'll have to start saving for a FOSS one when it's replacement time. :/

unattributed 𓂃✍︎Jan 24

@davidgerard I had a OnePlus phone once...never again. They kept changing the UI and making it worse and worse...it got really annoying. And, honestly, this was one of the phones where there weren't any bezels -- and that made everything about the phone even worse.

And then, when I started looking to upgrade, they had raised their prices into the flagship level pricing of Apple and Samsung...that killed it for me. I will never pay those kinds of prices for a phone.

A little rule I've lived by for years: never carry anything more expensive than you are ready to lose. I never want to carry a $1000 device, knowing that I could lose it at any time.

Matt Panhans Jan 24

@davidgerard Such a pity, it used to be such an outstanding company.

sebsauvage Jan 24

@davidgerard
Wow. This is an incredibly dick move.

砂漠人

x 🏜️Jan 24

@davidgerard well that sucks.

brachistochr0ne Jan 24

@davidgerard The Oneplus One was my first and last phone from them, pretty poor support even a year after it came out

bananas_pizza Jan 25

@davidgerard concept of a block on a roll back isn't that new. Google Pixels couldnt roll back to Android 13 from 14 even with custom roms, as I remember

"Musty Bits" McGee Jan 25

@davidgerard hmmm I wonder if this is related to the return of OnePlus to parent company @Techaltar or maybe just the classic enthusiast brand growth/betrayal you talked about

Clemens Jan 25

@davidgerard That's just anti-rollback protection and actually a pretty common feature on modern Android. They should have disclosed for which vulnerability they're burning it, and their software should have disabled the protection for bootloader-unlocked phones (maybe it does? Doesn't seem clear from the link to me). But other than that, this doesn't seem particularly surprising, and you'll likely see similar things from other vendors, too.

Cookie Jan 25

@neverpanic @davidgerard
Yeah, fuses tend to be burned when upgrading from a known vulnerable bootloader version to a newer one with that vuln resolved. Classic example would be broken cryptographic verification of the to be booted image, at which point locked bootloader (be it with OEM or your own key) won't help you

Pwassonchat the enby catboy Jan 25

@davidgerard Hardware limitations like this suck. I loved my OnePlus (yes, including the OS) but had to switch because of the ridiculously short security update support. And the prices are no longer that good compared to other phone brands.

@davidgerard I don't use my phone much and usually have either my wife's hand me downs or some rando we got cheap.

My current phone is a oneplus nord n30. i've been meaning to put custom rom on it but haven't had the time.

Guess now I'll have to check to see if that will brick it.

I have already made the decision to just plan on paying top dollar going forward to have devices that are freedom respecting and want the device to serve me instead of the other way around.

David Gerard Jan 25

@Jason_Dodd my fairphone 5 is nice, disadvantages: noticeably heavy (220g), not at all waterproof (the plastic back cover just pops off for your convenience) and the front camera's not good

other than that it's an extremely good high end phone

@davidgerard i'm thinking that when i get rid of this it will be a fairphone.

none of those negatives are issues for me.

@davidgerard seeing clippy and talking about phones compels me to ask, "what do you think of rossman's phone company?"

David Gerard Jan 25

@Jason_Dodd hadn't heard of it until your comment!

i mean looks like a nice idea, i have no idea if anyone's made a list of obvious issues

@davidgerard i was thinking of changing providers when i'd heard of it. i'm slow and lazy so it will probably be a month or so but i might give it a try if for no other reason than i like to promote the general things he does.