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Re: [Openvpn-users] Re: Microsoft Logo Warning


  • Subject: Re: [Openvpn-users] Re: Microsoft Logo Warning
  • From: James Yonan <jim@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 09:34:15 -0700 (MST)

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004, Stefan `Sec` Zehl wrote:

> On Wed, Nov 10, 2004 at 01:38 -0700, Blaine Fleming wrote:
> > 
> > >...but then, I suppose that if you wanted to be evil, you could just
> > >find the registry key that GUI setting twiddles, temporarily modify it
> > >during the install process and put it back afterwards.
> > 
> > MS made sure it wasn't quite that easy...
> > http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=298503
> 
> I felt challenged by the wording in that KB article.
> 
> I present you with the attached Proof of concept C Code which can turn
> the "Driver Signing" Setting on or off at will. The usual caveats apply
> (it works on my machine: XP with SP2). Perhaps someone wants to include
> it in the TAP installer :-)

That's quite a subverse piece of code :)

If you feel like it, the thing to do would be to make an NSIS module which 
gets or sets the parameter.  Get is important because we want to be a good 
citizen and set it back to its original value.

Having said that, in general I'm not terribly eager to remove unsigned
driver warnings, and I can understand that some companies may consider it
to actually be a benefit to have the warning dialog come up.  It's a
disclaimer, after all, and it allows the end-user to be aware that
something is trying to install a driver on their box.  Drivers are
dangerous things and driver bugs can crash a system or render it
unbootable.  When it comes to driver installation, full disclosure can be
a good thing.  And in this age of liability concerns, I would think that
MS is actually providing an incentive for commercial driver developers not
to sign, as a strong disclaimer agreed to by the customer can can help to
blunt future liability claims.

What I would advocate is having the warning apply to all drivers, not only
unsigned drivers.  Even signed drivers can have bugs.  And well-written
unsigned drivers can pass the same test suite that signed drivers have to 
pass.

The fact remains that the TAP-Win32 driver is unsigned mostly for
political and monetary reasons.  The code passes all of the NDISTest
suite, which is the same test that qualifies a driver for MS WHQL
certification.  The driver is also being actively used in the real 
world, and I would argue that that fact merits more credibility than any
stress-test suite.

James

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