A Challenge to the Naysayers

[lars_the_bear]

Also as the initial point was mean who cares what hardware configuration a random poster on a forum uses?

If you don't care, I respectfully suggest that perhaps you should. If you have not already, look into 'browser fingerprinting', to see how clever the data harvesters are, at building up real-world profiles of individuals from snippets of disparate information on the Internet. Quite a few organizations pride themselves on being able to do this with '95% accuracy' (whatever that means). And that's not even counting the outright data breaches, which are becoming more common, and more extensive.

My gut feeling is that everybody should be a little careful about what they reveal, even if it seems to be insignificant. I'm not saying we need to go the full tinfoil hat route, and make our lives too difficult to be bearable. But "not caring" seems a rather dangerous strategy to me. Just my two cents, though.

BR, Lars.

[siamhie]

Also as the initial point was mean who cares what hardware configuration a random poster on a forum uses?

If you don't care, I respectfully suggest that perhaps you should. If you have not already, look into 'browser fingerprinting', to see how clever the data harvesters are, at building up real-world profiles of individuals from snippets of disparate information on the Internet. Quite a few organizations pride themselves on being able to do this with '95% accuracy' (whatever that means). And that's not even counting the outright data breaches, which are becoming more common, and more extensive.

My gut feeling is that everybody should be a little careful about what they reveal, even if it seems to be insignificant. I'm not saying we need to go the full tinfoil hat route, and make our lives too difficult to be bearable. But "not caring" seems a rather dangerous strategy to me. Just my two cents, though.

BR, Lars.

Your missing the point of this thread. What personal information can be extracted from a QSI post?

Here's mine. Have at it.

Code: Select all

Snapshot created on: 20241119_0612
System:
  Kernel: 6.6.62-x64v3-xanmod1 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.0 clocksource: tsc
    avail: hpet,acpi_pm parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.6.62-x64v3-xanmod1 root=UUID=<filter>
    ro quiet init=/lib/systemd/systemd
  Desktop: Fluxbox v: 1.3.7 with: tint2 tools: avail: light-locker vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.32.0
    Distro: MX-23.4_fluxbox_x64 Libretto May 19 2024 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: B550-A PRO (MS-7C56) v: 2.0 serial: <superuser required>
    uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: A.F0 date: 10/11/2023
CPU:
  Info: model: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+ gen: 4 level: v3 note: check
    built: 2022 process: TSMC n6 (7nm) family: 0x19 (25) model-id: 0x21 (33) stepping: 2
    microcode: 0xA20120E
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 16 tpc: 2 threads: 32 smt: enabled cache: L1: 1024 KiB desc: d-16x32
    KiB; i-16x32 KiB L2: 8 MiB desc: 16x512 KiB L3: 64 MiB desc: 2x32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2575 high: 3400 min/max: 2200/5083 boost: disabled scaling:
    driver: acpi-cpufreq governor: ondemand cores: 1: 3400 2: 2200 3: 2200 4: 2200 5: 2719 6: 2200
    7: 2200 8: 2200 9: 2200 10: 2200 11: 2200 12: 2200 13: 2200 14: 2200 15: 2200 16: 2200 17: 3399
    18: 2720 19: 2718 20: 2200 21: 2720 22: 3399 23: 2200 24: 3400 25: 3399 26: 2720 27: 3400
    28: 2719 29: 3400 30: 2200 31: 2715 32: 2200 bogomips: 217605
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected
  Type: mds status: Not affected
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected
  Type: mmio_stale_data status: Not affected
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed status: Not affected
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow mitigation: Safe RET
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Retpolines; IBPB: conditional; IBRS_FW; STIBP: always-on; RSB
    filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds status: Not affected
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 22 [Radeon RX 6700/6700 XT/6750 XT / 6800M/6850M XT] vendor: Tul / PowerColor
    driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 code: Navi-2x process: TSMC n7 (7nm) built: 2020-22 pcie:
    gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-3 empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 2d:00.0
    chip-ID: 1002:73df class-ID: 0300
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa dri: radeonsi gpu: amdgpu display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 2560x1440 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 677x381mm (26.65x15.00") s-diag: 777mm (30.58")
  Monitor-1: DP-3 mapped: DisplayPort-2 model: HP X27q serial: <filter> built: 2021
    res: 2560x1440 hz: 165 dpi: 109 gamma: 1.2 size: 597x336mm (23.5x13.23") diag: 685mm (27")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 2560x1440 min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi device: 1 drv: swrast
    gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi inactive: wayland
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 vendor: amd mesa v: 23.1.2-1~mx23ahs glx-v: 1.4 es-v: 3.2 direct-render: yes
    renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (navi22 LLVM 15.0.6 DRM 3.54 6.6.62-x64v3-xanmod1)
    device-ID: 1002:73df memory: 11.72 GiB unified: no
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.250 layers: 3 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT
    (RADV NAVI22) driver: mesa radv v: 23.1.2-1~mx23ahs device-ID: 1002:73df surfaces: xcb,xlib
    device: 1 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM 15.0.6 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe
    v: 23.1.2-1~mx23ahs (LLVM 15.0.6) device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 4
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2d:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: AMD Starship/Matisse HD Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
    pcie: gen: 4 speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 bus-ID: 2f:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.6.62-x64v3-xanmod1 status: kernel-api tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.2 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse status: active
    2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
    tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX210/AX211/AX411 160MHz driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: gen: 2
    speed: 5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2725 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 2a:00.0
    chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: NetworkManager,wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX210 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1
    mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-2.3:4 chip-ID: 8087:0032 class-ID: e001
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: N/A rfk-block: hardware: no
    software: no address: see --recommends
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 8.64 TiB used: 1.13 TiB (13.1%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 maj-min: 259:2 vendor: Western Digital model: WDS500G1X0E-00AFY0
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD
    serial: <filter> fw-rev: 613000WD temp: 36.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 maj-min: 259:0 vendor: Western Digital model: WDS500G3XHC-00SJG0
    size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD
    serial: <filter> fw-rev: 102000WD temp: 31.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Seagate model: ST8000DM004-2CX188 size: 7.28 TiB
    block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5425 serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 0001 scheme: GPT
  ID-4: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
    block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter>
    fw-rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 465 GiB size: 456.63 GiB (98.20%) used: 10.69 GiB (2.3%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 maj-min: 259:4
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 779 MiB size: 777.5 MiB (99.80%) used: 288 KiB (0.0%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 maj-min: 259:3
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 50 (default 100) zswap: no
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 64 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/sdb2
    maj-min: 8:18
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 29.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 47.0 C mem: 46.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 774
Repos:
  Packages: pm: dpkg pkgs: 2311 libs: 1186 tools: apt, apt-get, aptitude, nala, synaptic pm: rpm
    pkgs: 0
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nordvpn.list
    1: deb https://repo.nordvpn.com/deb/nordvpn/debian stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/xanmod-release.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/xanmod-archive-keyring.gpg] http://deb.xanmod.org releases main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/extrepo_librewolf.sources
    1: deb [arch=amd64 arm64] https://repo.librewolf.net librewolf main
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.27 GiB used: 2.42 GiB (7.7%)
  Processes: 466 Power: uptime: 43m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep avail: s2idle
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot, suspend, test_resume image: 12.47 GiB
    services: upowerd Init: systemd v: 252 target: graphical (5) default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 Client: shell wrapper v: 5.2.15-release inxi: 3.3.35
Boot Mode: UEFI

[Adrian]

Your missing the point

People have been telling me that... a lot.

[MXRobo]

I previously posted that if I were in the forum member's shoes, that at the most I would only provide a link of either how to post the QSI instructions of forum rules as opposed to asking for them as the members are doing the users a service.
But after reading AK-47's comment in post # 31:

Code: Select all

 I work on a need-to-know basis. If I don't need the QSI I will not ask for it

I MIGHT consider it to not initially be required.

But it is amazing how frequently insufficient information is provided, and I feel like the "I'm not psychic" phrase is so apropos.
=====================================================================

However, I translated Lars' comments dichotomously and not antithetically, as in:
Do I trust the people on this website? No
Do I not trust the people on this website? No
I don't mean to speak for Lars, and I'm not psychic.

I also concur with Rose.

'Some' may have missed the point that Lars was initially referring to "large-scale aggregation and correlation of information from different sources. Certain business" as opposed to himself, and was defending himself by about the second page on, and against a straw-man or two.

I think Lar's original comment (#12) was engaging and introduced another perspective into the mix, but I suspect the poster encountered an evolutionarily programmed social tribal reflex which I find to be the the bane of mankind no matter the level of education. Quixotic to hope that mankind can overcome this "peacetime hindrance" as it seems very difficult for people to override this compulsion – even with some critical introspection.

Can AI intelligently discuss these kinds of topics yet?

Mankind's opposing thumb, mind and primate sociality have worked wonders, but I've often wondered about that advantages that mankind would have had, had he been a non-social creature.

I probably won't reply to this post, but in the vein of the topic, I'm still very pro-QSI and I've learned that even more problem solving info is contained within since I posted my previous pro-QSI or pro viewtopic.php?p=255062#p255062 post many months ago.

Maybe I should've kept my two-cents to myself.

Regards

[Arnox]

On one hand, I do think with an IP address of a potential target and their QSI, I could quite potentially cause a lot of damage. Just for starters, the QSI lists all the hardware vulnerabilities that the user, for whatever reason, might have left unpatched. It also declares MX version and kernel version information which could potentially be used to see if there is an exploitable software component in the target's install.

So who exactly is going to want to take advantage of that information? The MX forum would need to be hacked first in order to even harvest user IP addresses, and, assuming the user wasn't using a VPN (which case, you're screwed), you'd then also have to get past modem/router security of the user as well. Which may actually be quite easy since most ISPs send unsecured junk to their subscribers. Alternatively, a user could have mistakenly used the same alias on this forum that they use on the dark web as well, which would interest both criminal and state actors if they, for whatever reason, felt so inclined to do a little digging on the dark web user.

On the other hand, it's a plain fact that diagnostic information is needed for, well, a diagnosis in many cases. This is just flat-out unavoidable. You could set up private threads that only the MX staff can see, but then, normal users would no longer be able to contribute answers and fixes. So I guess, ultimately, one will probably just have to accept that if they want free tech support from the MX community and the MX devs, then they need to provide their QSI. If security is a big enough factor, then I'm afraid the MX forums are probably off-limits to them.

[Eadwine Rose]

Guys.. instead of discussing yes/no QSI, which is not the topic, the challenge is to extract the personal info from the provided QSI.

Clearly you cannot do it 'cause you're talking all around it and away from the challenge.

But post 42 has one. Three, two, one, GO!

[Stevo]

Nope, nope, I can't really see anything either, so another "neigh" here"

[FullScale4Me]

On one hand, I do think with an IP address of a potential target and their QSI, I could quite potentially cause a lot of damage. Just for starters, the QSI lists all the hardware vulnerabilities that the user, for whatever reason, might have left unpatched. It also declares MX version and kernel version information which could potentially be used to see if there is an exploitable software component in the target's install.

For the concerned folks perhaps a step or two back - inxi -EMnprdxxx ... with two x's you don't get MSDOS/GPT info about drives.

Code: Select all

mike@OptiPlex7050:~
$ inxi -EMnprdxxx
Machine:
  Type: Desktop System: Dell product: OptiPlex 7050 v: N/A
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0NW6H5 v: A00 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell
    v: 1.21.0 date: 07/12/2022
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I219-LM vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel
    port: N/A bus-ID: 00:1f.6 chip-ID: 8086:15e3 class-ID: 0200
  IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: 50:9a:4c:44:56:a3
  Device-2: Realtek 802.11ac NIC type: USB driver: rtw_8821cu bus-ID: 1-5:3
    chip-ID: 0bda:c811 class-ID: 0000 serial: 123456
  IF: wlan0 state: down mac: 6a:d2:3e:e9:2f:8b
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Plugable Bluetooth 5.0 Adapter type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
    bus-ID: 1-9:6 chip-ID: 2230:0016 class-ID: e001 serial: 00E04C239987
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: 8C:AE:4C:C0:29:91
    bt-v: 3.0 lmp-v: 5.1 sub-v: 8761 hci-v: 5.1 rev: b
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 3.86 TiB used: 801.54 GiB (20.3%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Lexar model: 128GB SSD size: 119.24 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: K44440W101205 rev: 117D scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB model: External USB3.0 size: 111.79 GiB type: N/A
    serial: 201703310007F rev: 0204 scheme: GPT
  ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB vendor: Western Digital model: WD40EDAZ-11SLVB0
    size: 3.64 TiB type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: WD-WX12DA3LNAYT rev: 1031
    scheme: GPT
  Optical-1: /dev/sr0 vendor: HL-DT-ST model: DVD+-RW GU90N rev: A1C1
    dev-links: cdrom
  Features: speed: 24 multisession: yes audio: yes dvd: yes
    rw: cd-r,cd-rw,dvd-r,dvd-ram state: running
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 57.95 GiB used: 27.84 GiB (48.0%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda3
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 54.1 MiB used: 411 KiB (0.7%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/sda2
  ID-3: /media/120gb_ssd size: 109.98 GiB used: 100.08 GiB (91.0%) fs: ext2
    dev: /dev/sdb1
  ID-4: /media/mike/WD4TB size: 3.64 TiB used: 673.62 GiB (18.1%) fs: exfat
    dev: /dev/sdc1
Repos:
  Packages: 2869 pm: dpkg pkgs: 2847 pm: flatpak pkgs: 22
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ahs-staging.list
    1: deb https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs-staging
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list
    1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
    2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list
    1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/meganz-archive-keyring.gpg] https://mega.nz/linux/repo/Debian_12/ ./
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list
    1: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm main non-free
    2: deb http://la.mxrepo.com/mx/repo/ bookworm ahs
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/slack.list
    1: deb https://packagecloud.io/slacktechnologies/slack/debian/ jessie main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list
    1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
mike@OptiPlex7050:~

edit: typofix

[Melber]

But post 42 has one. Three, two, one, GO!

siamhie gets out of bed way too early if the time of the snapshot is anything to go by.

[AK-47]

Freja mentioned a few items of concern in post #28. Also the repo list may reveal which rough geographical location the poster is in, and application vendors that may be in use. CPU vulnerabilities, yes, but a lot of them require specific techniques to exploit anyway. But ooh, bluetooth device!

Device-1: Plugable Bluetooth 5.0 Adapter type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 1-9:6 chip-ID: 2230:0016 class-ID: e001 serial: 00E012345678

Any of you have a mobile broadband modem, let us know if the IMEI number is in there.

For the most part the challenge is pointless, because revealing of personal information is not what any of these "naysayers" are complaining about, it's sensitive information. What constitutes sensitive depends on the individual, and dismissing this concern as "See? QSI don't got no credit card numbers!" is somewhat disingenuous. But the option to post QSI as a file is there in the utility for those who really need to, although for a single file (ie. QSI only, most requests) quoted text is better. Attachments will satisfy the requirement of only registered members being allowed to access this. The way around it is quite simple though: create an account on the forum. A bad actor could do so without making a single post and grab that anyway.

That said, publicly asking for help will likely reveal more damning information about your situation and what you use the machine for than a QSI will.