• Garrett: To update blobs or not to update blobs

    From LWN.net@86:200/23 to All on Wed Mar 4 06:40:08 2026
    Matthew Garrett examines
    the factors that go into the decision about whether to install a
    firmware update or not.

    I trust my CPU vendor. I don't trust my CPU vendor because I want
    to, I trust my CPU vendor because I have no choice. I don't think
    it's likely that my CPU vendor has designed a CPU that identifies
    when I'm generating cryptographic keys and biases the RNG output so
    my keys are significantly weaker than they look, but it's not
    literally impossible. I generate keys on it anyway, because what
    choice do I have? At some point I will buy a new laptop because
    Electron will no longer fit in 32GB of RAM and I will have to make
    the same affirmation of trust, because the alternative is that I
    just don't have a computer.

    https://lwn.net/Articles/1061048/
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