David GerardJan 24

Never buy a OnePlus phone ever again. They now have a hardware anti-rollback fuse that blows if you revert to an earlier version or install a custom ROM.

https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Oneplus_phone_update_introduces_hardware_anti-rollback

Oneplus phone update introduces hardware anti-rollback

Consumer Rights Wiki
Show threadahoyboyhoyJan 24
@davidgerard don't think that's unique to OnePlus...
Show threadahoyboyhoy
@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.
Jan 24 at 6:09pmWeb
Show threadFredericJan 24
@ahoyboyhoy Uhm, what? Was planning to replace my old phone with a Fairphone. Can you please elaborate?
Show threadBastianJan 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.

#Fairphone #Android #customrom

Show threadFredericJan 24
@bastian_S @ahoyboyhoy Thanks for clarifying! 👍
Show threadDave Wilburn Jan 24

@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?

Show threadBastianJan 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.)

Show threadDave Wilburn Jan 24

@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.

Show threadahoyboyhoyJan 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).