For security reasons, Linux Kernel will disable support for Microsoft RNDIS protocol drivers in the next development cycle

CTOnews.com, January 16, Linux Kernel's next development cycle will disable support for Microsoft remote Network driver Interface Specification (RNDIS) protocol drivers for security reasons.

CTOnews.com mini-class: remote NDIS (RNDIS) does not require hardware vendors to write NDIS miniport device drivers for network devices attached to the USB bus.

Remote NDIS does this by defining a bus-independent message set and a description of how this message set operates through the USB bus.

Because this remote NDIS interface is standardized, a set of host drivers can support any number of network devices attached to the USB bus.

This greatly reduces the development burden on device manufacturers and improves the overall stability of the system because new drivers are not required and the end-user experience is improved because there are no drivers to install to support new USB bus connections to network devices.

RNDIS is not currently widely used in cross-platform environments, and for security reasons, the upstream Linux kernel is seeking to move RNDIS kernel drivers behind the "BROKEN" Kconfig option to effectively disable them in future kernel versions.

After the RNDIS-related code is marked "BROKEN", the relevant driver is removed from the upstream source tree.

In the proposal, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:

The Microsoft RNDIS protocol is designed to be insecure and vulnerable on any system that uses it with untrusted hosts or devices. Because this protocol does not guarantee security, you need to disable all rndis drivers to prevent anyone from using them again.