r/linux • • 17h ago

Popular Application Fortnite is coming to Linux

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2.8k Upvotes

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36

u/notkizil 17h ago

is this supposed to be good news or bad news

48

u/Busy-Scientist3851 17h ago

It's good news but people are somehow spinning it into a negative because it requires some of the same stuff it does on Windows like secure boot.

-17

u/Sad-Cod-9584 17h ago

No because it's a rootkit. Kernel level anti cheat has no place in linux. 

15

u/Busy-Scientist3851 16h ago

Anything with root permissions on Linux has full read write access to the memory space, you don't need to be in the kernel to be a rootkit.

You do need to be in the kernel to make sure nothing in kernel space is interfering with the game.

If kernel anti cheat has no place on your computer, great! But it has a place for those of us who actually want to play online games.

0

u/hfsh 10h ago

You do need to be in the kernel to make sure nothing in kernel space is interfering with the game.

Yeah, and games that 'need' that can fuck right back off to the windows cesspit where they belong.

2

u/Busy-Scientist3851 10h ago

Just don't play it then, just because you don't like it doesn't mean others shouldn't be able to play it.

25

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

There's no kernel module mentioned, and there's also nothing precluding you from being able to run two kernels. You'd boot up the EAC kernel when you want to play specific games, but you still have your "normal" kernel for everything else.

9

u/thunderbird32 16h ago

To be honest, if you have to reboot, why not just dual-boot Windows at that point though?

20

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

Because with this setup you're still avoiding Windows which is the point.

16

u/Noahnoah55 16h ago

Because I don't like Windows.

1

u/Analog_Account 6h ago

Because fuck windows!

7

u/get_homebrewed 16h ago

That is a kernel module, eBPF would also count as a rookit.

9

u/Busy-Scientist3851 16h ago

eBPF modules are not kernel modules.

0

u/get_homebrewed 16h ago

it practically is. It has the exact same rootkit potential.

10

u/Busy-Scientist3851 16h ago

A rootkit running in a sandboxed VM where it's entitre access is logged and restricted? Yeh...

3

u/get_homebrewed 16h ago

Yes actually. source 1 source 2 example repo

even the slightest amount of research or knowing what you're talking about would've prevented you from looking so foolish

5

u/Busy-Scientist3851 16h ago

So everything a process running as root can do?

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0

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

No, it does not.

5

u/get_homebrewed 16h ago

Yes, it does.

1

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

Literally two entirely separate things. Maybe do some research before replying next time.

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4

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

eBPF programs are not kernel modules and are highly restricted compared to them. They are strictly sandboxed and permission controlled vs true kernel modules which can basically do whatever they want. It's sort of analogous to a normal Linux program vs a Flatpak or Snap program. That normal Linux program can basically do whatever it wants within the confines of the user account it's running as, whereas Flatpak and Snap programs can only do what the sandbox has granted them permission to do.

9

u/get_homebrewed 16h ago

Except it's still kernel proviledges, and eBPF spyware/rootkits already exist.

3

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

Not even close to the same thing; they're heavily sandboxed/restricted. You're paranoid, if EAC wanted to just broad brush your Linux install they'd have released this as a kernel module which automatically has carte blanche over your entire system rather than the eBPF framework.

8

u/get_homebrewed 16h ago

how am I paranoid, they exist? The sandbox doesn't prevent spying or anything you need kernel proviledges and you can't do kernel antocheat without spying? Lol????

kernel modules are incredibly hard for the average user to install, not even mentioning steamOS or immutable distros

3

u/LFP-Throwaway-3982 16h ago

Yes it does, eBPF is specifically set up to be heavily sandboxed/restricted.

Also, literally no kernel modules are not hard to install, it's called DKMS lol. You install them just like any other package, and the module builds with kernel updates.

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4

u/tadfisher 16h ago

That's the beauty of how Linux does things: they can do all the anti-cheaty things with eBPF and not run shitty code in ring 0. This is an infinitely better solution than what they have to do on Windows, which is write a "driver" that runs in the kernel and hooks everything.

7

u/Adventurous-Nature73 15h ago

eBPF runs in ring 0. It may be sandboxed to not mess with kernel internals and crash the system, but it’s already been shown to be able to act like a rootkit.

1

u/DragonSlayerC 15h ago

It's a BPF LSM, not a rootkit. Does it have read access to all of your system memory? Yes, it kinda needs that to ensure there's no cheating software loaded on the system. However, that's about it. The only other thing it can really do is prevent certain processes from reading a certain files, kinda like what SELinux and AppArmor do.

12

u/redinktea 17h ago

Aladeen

8

u/oneiros5321 17h ago

I mean good news?
If you don't play it, that changes nothing for you...and for those who do play it, that's an opportunity to fully jump away from Windows.

•

u/UltraCynar 58m ago

Until other developers use this. It’s bad news and if this spreads it could affect other software too. 

1

u/dekeonus 5h ago

if you don't run one of the Epic approved distros with their approved (distro signed) kernels, then this is a nothing burger - it (EACv2 Linux) won't work on your system.

•

u/UltraCynar 59m ago

Bad news as it’ll eventually take away ownership of PCs

1

u/Junior_Common_9644 12h ago

Supposed to be horrifying news.

0

u/uzlonewolf 14h ago

Why must news be either good or bad? Why can't it just be news?