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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 02/16/15 04:38, Joanna Rutkowska
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:54E1BAA9.4010701@invisiblethingslab.com"
type="cite"><br>
<pre wrap="">Xen has support for emulating CPUID for HVM guests -- take a look at the
config examples in:
xen-4.1.6.1/tools/examples/xmexample.hvm-stubdom
I haven't played with it, but see no reasons it should not work. I can
imagine we introduce a prefs for VMs (say "generic_cpuid" settable via
qvm-prefs) that would be resulting in additional config for cpuid
emulation inserted in the config file for such VMs. We would need to
agree on good-enough-for-everybody CPUID config and stick to it then.
Again, this would be use-able for anon VMs mostly.
However, this will not work for PV VMs, because the CPUID instruction is
not a privileged instruction, so malware in a PV VM can always execute
this instruction (even if we hooked Xen interface for CPUID-like info to
the guest) without trapping into XEN in PV operation.
AFAIU, there are not personal identifying info returned by CPUID, but I
can see how this could be used as an additional fingerprinting vector.
Thus, perhaps we should consider distributing Whonix workstation
template as an HVM template instead of a PVM one? Fortunately we do have
templates support for HVMs, so this should be perfectly possible.
Let me also point out the already discussed-multiple-times topic of
potential covert channels between cooperative VMs, which might also be
potentially exploited in some scenarios to fingerprint user environment.
That is more difficult to address on PC architecture though, but some
work on Xen-level is nevertheless very welcome (see #817).
Thanks,
joanna.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
Getting back to parent thread's topic: The discovery of LAN IP
address does not even require any intrusion/exploit into the
system... it's really just a feature.<br>
<br>
But being on a '10.137' net is probably more identifying than
having, say, an i5-3320M stepping 7 processor.<br>
<br>
So perhaps Qubes should have a configurable LAN address (like a
regular router does) so that concerned users/admins can change it to
something that is common but also works within their LAN
environments.<br>
<br>
<br>
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