Wow. If you tought a memory stick pretending that it's a keyboard was a serious enough problem, just wait untill somebody thinks loading random drivers from the device (or the web!) is a good idea.
It will happen, that's a near certainty. Some day, somebody will think that's a good idea, and since it's easy, the scheme will get widely used.
Perhaps the Linux kernel you already have installed, which presently has drivers for just about everything included and developed in a centralized, controlled fashion...
Whether this is actually better probably depends on your point of view. But loading (somehow OS-neutral?) drivers from a fixed store on the device seems like a great way to be stuck with out-of-date binary blobs forever.
Then again, there are cases where developers have and will release driver source out of tree so that new devices are supported on day one, or to avoid the politics of the linux kernel. Having a flash with a driver, even if it is an older one, could be a godsend for things like nics, where you can very easily end up in a catch-22 type situation.
That's why i proposed an URL, or an URL in the blob. Well, anything is better than the current situation.
Moreover, in my current forey into USB, I discovered that kernel device drivers are completely unnecessary. And a google chrome API (or the underlying libusb) is completely good enough for proprietary devices.
> Wow. If you tought a memory stick pretending that it's a keyboard was a serious enough problem, just wait untill somebody thinks loading random drivers from the device (or the web!) is a good idea.
Oh, come now. Any competently-designed USB penetrator will have your system owned seconds after you plug it in, with no further interaction from you. Running drivers from the device poses no additional risk beyond what you've already taken.
It will happen, that's a near certainty. Some day, somebody will think that's a good idea, and since it's easy, the scheme will get widely used.