This Week in TUXEDO OS #51-2024 - TUXEDO Computers

Hello TUXEDO Fans and Open-Source Enthusiasts!

Merry Christmas from TUXEDO Computers – and our Linux penguins! We have exciting news: Soon, you’ll be able to subscribe to RSS feeds for our news, TWIX, and shop updates. Our penguins – uh, developers – are already working on it. By the way, did you know why penguins make such great developers? Because they always freeze their code extra fresh and stay cool, no matter how tough it gets! Also, look forward to updates for TUXEDO OS and useful KDE tips. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a fantastic start to the new year – bug-free!

Enjoy reading,
The TUXEDO OS Team

RSS Feeds for TWIX, News, and Shop Updates

We’ve heard your requests! We’ve been receiving many inquiries about providing RSS feeds for news and TWIX. We’re happy to announce that we are working on it: soon, there will be RSS feeds for our news, TWIX, and even for shop updates at TUXEDO Computers.

Our developers have already integrated the core features. We are currently in the testing phase and focusing on bug fixing. If everything goes as planned, the feeds will be publicly available in early January of the coming year.

So please bear with us for a little longer – it won’t be much longer!

Latest News and Guides

• What You Always Wanted to Know About SecureBoot
• TUXEDO Control Center 2.1.16: Maintenance Mode for Ubuntu 20.04-based Distributions

TUXEDO OS Updates

TUXEDO OS

Now available on our Plasma mirror:

• KDE Plasma 6.2.4
• Qt 6.8.1
• KDE Gear 24.12.0

TUXEDO OS ISO

The TUXEDO OS ISO now includes the following updates:

• KDE Plasma 6.2.4
• Qt 6.8.1
• KDE Gear 24.12.0
• Latest Firefox
• Latest Thunderbird

TUXEDO OS FAI

• Changed: For new installations with encryption, the prompt to change the LUKS password now appears directly in Calamares. No additional KDialog is shown.

TUXEDO Control Center 2.1.16

Starting with this version, TCC (TUXEDO Control Center) will switch to maintenance mode for all Ubuntu 20.04-based distributions – including TUXEDO OS, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Flavors, and Elementary OS. Until the end of the LTS period in April 2025, bug fixes will continue to be provided, but no new features will be added. After this date, TCC will likely still function but will no longer be officially supported by us (for more information, see here).

Changed: The notification text that appears when no keyboard backlight control is found has been updated. It now reflects the current requirements for driver and kernel versions.

Bugfix: Several issues related to amd-pstate have been fixed. These occurred when limiting the CPU frequency in different ways. The adjustments match the current behavior of kernel functions and work around known kernel bugs.

KDE App of the Week: Kleopatra – Simplifying Certificate and Encryption Management

Kleopatra is an open-source application for managing encryption certificates and serves as a graphical frontend for cryptographic services. As part of the KDE ecosystem, the software supports OpenPGP and S/MIME (X.509) certificates, making it easier to work with encryption and digital signatures.

The app allows users to create new keys, import or export existing ones, and retrieve or publish public keys from keyservers, LDAP, and WKD services. It also enables the management of key trust levels and expiration dates to ensure secure usage.

One of Kleopatra’s core functions is the encryption and decryption of files, texts, and emails. Digital signatures can also be used to verify the authenticity of senders and ensure the integrity of the content.

Recent updates have improved the display of decryption and verification results, and a bug causing certificate selection issues under Qt6 has been fixed. The user interface for encrypting and decrypting clipboard text has also been improved.

For more updated KDE apps, check out the This Week in KDE Apps column.

KDE Tips and Tricks: Integrating KDE Plasma’s Convenient File Dialog into Firefox

By default, Firefox uses its own file picker dialog based on the GTK toolkit, which doesn’t always integrate well with the desktop environment. For KDE Plasma users, however, there is a way to enable the native KDE file picker dialog. This is done by using the xdg-desktop-portal. Here’s how to set it up.

Step 1: Access Firefox’s Hidden Settings

To enable the KDE file picker dialog, you need to modify a Firefox setting, which is only accessible through the „about:config“ configuration page, not the graphical settings.

• Open Firefox and type about:config in the address bar.
• Accept the warning by clicking Accept the Risk and Continue.

Step 2: Modify or Create the Correct Setting

• Search for the entry widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker.
• Change the default value from 2 to 1.

Step 3: Restart Firefox

To apply the changes, restart Firefox.

Requirements for KDE Integration

For this function to work properly, the following packages must be installed on your system:

• xdg-desktop-portal
• xdg-desktop-portal-kde

These portals connect Firefox with the KDE environment. On TUXEDO OS, both packages are included in the standard installation.

Switching to the KDE file picker dialog helps Firefox better integrate with the KDE interface and provides a more consistent user experience. Thanks to xdg-desktop-portal support, you can now use familiar KDE features like favorites or recently used files directly in Firefox.

Ubuntu Security Updates

The following Ubuntu security updates are included directly in TUXEDO OS:

• USN-7178–1: DPDK vulnerability: DPDK could be made to crash if it received specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–11614
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• LSN-0108–1: Kernel Live Patch Security Notice: Several security issues were fixed in the kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–26960, CVE-2024–26800, CVE-2024–27398, and 4 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 16.04 ESM, Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7177–1: YARA vulnerability: YARA could be made to crash if it received specially crafted input.
  Identifier: CVE-2021–45429
  Affects: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• USN-7169–2: Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–49967, CVE-2024–53057, CVE-2024–50264
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10

• USN-7172–1: libvpx vulnerability: libvpx could be made to crash or run programs if it received specially crafted input.
  Identifier: CVE-2023–5217
  Affects: Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7176–1: GStreamer Good Plugins vulnerabilities: GStreamer Good Plugins could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it opened a specially crafted file.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–47537, CVE-2024–47776, CVE-2024–47834, and 19 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7175–1: GStreamer Base Plugins vulnerabilities: GStreamer Base Plugins could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it opened a specially crafted file.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–47542, CVE-2024–47600, CVE-2024–47541, and 4 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7174–1: GStreamer vulnerability: GStreamer could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it opened a specially crafted file.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–47606
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7171–1: PHPUnit vulnerability: PHPUnit could be made to crash or run programs if it received specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2017–9841
  Affects: Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

• USN-7168–1: EditorConfig vulnerabilities: EditorConfig could be made to crash or run programs as your login if it received specially crafted input.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53849, CVE-2023–0341
  Affects: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

• USN-7159–3: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2023–52497, CVE-2024–38538, CVE-2024–26947, and 20 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7166–2: Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–49981, CVE-2024–50188, CVE-2024–49965, and 164 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7173–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–38597, CVE-2023–52821, CVE-2024–40910, and 13 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7170–1: Linux kernel (OEM) vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–49913, CVE-2024–49896, CVE-2024–53057, and 26 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

• USN-7169–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–50264, CVE-2024–49967, CVE-2024–53057
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10

• USN-7167–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–49967, CVE-2024–53057, CVE-2024–50264
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• USN-7159–2: Linux kernel (AWS) vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2023–52497, CVE-2024–38538, CVE-2024–26947, and 20 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7166–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–47672, CVE-2024–49900, CVE-2023–52532, and 164 others
  Affects: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7165–1: Spring Framework vulnerability: The Spring Framework could be made to run programs or expose sensitive information if it received specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2022–22965
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7164–1: ImageMagick vulnerability: ImageMagick could be made to crash if it received specially crafted input.
  Identifier: CVE-2021–20176, CVE-2021–20243, CVE-2021–20241
  Affects: Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7163–1: Linux kernel vulnerability: The system could be made to crash if it received specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53057
  Affects: Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7161–1: Docker vulnerabilities: Several security issues were fixed in Docker.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–41110, CVE-2024–29018
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7162–1: curl vulnerability: curl could be made to expose sensitive information.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–11053
  Affects: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7160–1: Mpmath vulnerability: Mpmath could be made to crash if it opened a specially crafted file.
  Identifier: CVE-2021–29063
  Affects: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

Current BIOS/EC Versions

An EC/BIOS update affects key system components. Please ensure that you follow the instructions carefully and take your time. The process is usually completed quickly. If you have any doubts, our support team is happy to assist you. The following devices have BIOS/EC updates available: