Re: USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from iPhone?)

From	Brian Sammon <debian-users-list@brisammon.fastmail.fm>
Newsgroups	linux.debian.user
Subject	Re: USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from iPhone?)
Date	2026-05-15 07:40 +0200
Message-ID	<MUTrb-5fkf-5@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	(4 earlier) <MUM6l-5apK-3@gated-at.bofh.it> <MUPdU-5cCx-5@gated-at.bofh.it> <MUQjD-5dlV-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <MURfH-5dVF-1@gated-at.bofh.it> <MUTrb-5fkf-7@gated-at.bofh.it>
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On Thu, 14 May 2026 23:32:20 -0500
David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> wrote:

> On Thu 14 May 2026 at 23:18:41 (-0400), Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > To bring this discussion back to Debian: does someone here know of a way
> > to configure Debian so it asks for explicit confirmation before
> > accepting new USB devices?
> 
> Just don't run an automounter?

That's all well and good if the hostile USB thingy acts like a thumbdrive.

If the hostile USB thingy (which to casual inspection might just appear to be a USB cable) acts like a keyboard, I'm not sure what the computer would do.  I'm not sure what would happen if I were to connect a second (normal) USB keyboard to my debian computer.  I'll have to test that sometime.

I would hope there were some configuration options to make things more secure about this.  I would think if such options existed, they would be udev-related.  I'm too lazy/busy/something to do a deep dive on this right now, but a while back I did some research on configuring a computer to load a different keyboard map depending on which keyboard was attached.  As with many topics, the Arch Wiki has a lot of information:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Udev
At a quick glance, there doesn't appear to be a "security" section to that wiki article, unfortunately.

I'm also curious: besides keyboards, what other peripheral would a hostile USB device want to impersonate?  Are there other attack methods to consider?

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Thread

Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? "mick.crane" <mick.crane@gmail.com> - 2026-05-14 02:10 +0200
  Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2026-05-14 23:00 +0200
    Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? John Hasler <john@sugarbit.com> - 2026-05-14 23:50 +0200
      Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? Robert Heller <heller@deepsoft.com> - 2026-05-15 03:10 +0200
        Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? Andy Smith <andy@strugglers.net> - 2026-05-15 04:20 +0200
          USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from iPhone?) Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-15 05:20 +0200
            Re: USB devices and security Henrik Ahlgren <pablo@seestieto.com> - 2026-05-15 06:40 +0200
            Re: USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from  iPhone?) Brian Sammon <debian-users-list@brisammon.fastmail.fm> - 2026-05-15 07:40 +0200
              Re: USB devices and security nwe <nwe@gitcoding.net> - 2026-05-15 15:50 +0200
            Re: USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from  iPhone?) <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-15 08:50 +0200
              Re: USB devices and security Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-15 18:40 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-15 20:00 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security -- and rubber ducks! <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-15 22:00 +0200
            Re: USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from iPhone?) rhkramer@gmail.com - 2026-05-15 15:30 +0200
              Re: USB devices and security (was: how to transfer files to/from  iPhone?) Norwid Behrnd <nbehrnd@yahoo.com> - 2026-05-15 16:00 +0200
            Re: USB devices and security Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-15 18:40 +0200
              Re: USB devices and security Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-15 21:00 +0200
              Re: USB devices and security <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-15 22:00 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security debian-user@howorth.org.uk - 2026-05-15 23:20 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security Henrik Ahlgren <pablo@seestieto.com> - 2026-05-16 09:00 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security CGS <etphonehomefrance@gmail.com> - 2026-05-16 18:10 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-16 18:40 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security CGS <etphonehomefrance@gmail.com> - 2026-05-16 18:50 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security Henrik Ahlgren <pablo@seestieto.com> - 2026-05-16 19:20 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-17 09:50 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2026-05-17 17:00 +0200
                Re: USB devices and security Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2026-05-17 17:50 +0200
            Re: USB devices and security Max Nikulin <manikulin@gmail.com> - 2026-05-16 07:00 +0200
          Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? CGS <etphonehomefrance@gmail.com> - 2026-05-15 16:30 +0200
    Re: how to transfer files to/from iPhone? <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2026-05-15 08:40 +0200

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