> Quite a few. You can make the driver upload be done via a userspace app so its
> pretty clearly seperate from the kernel.
>
> As to the security risk - yes if you run a military installation or something
> that is similarly paranoid. However its no different to the firmware burned into
> ROM or the BIOS having NSAkey like hooks.
The're two cases : Firmware before boot, and firmware after boot.
The first is usually there to make sure you get your desired LILO prompt,
so usually not a problem. The kernel takes over, and in a lot of cases the
firmware is never used.
In the last case, you load something direct into kernel space. In case of
binary stuff you have no idea what actually happens. Also the case with
the before boot issue, but this plays a bigger role.
> Alan
Igmar
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 23 2000 - 21:00:09 EST