Microsoft’s latest monthly security update is causing problems on computers that dual-boot Windows and Linux.
Last week, the company released a security patch to address a two-year-old vulnerability in the open-source GRUB bootloader used by many Linux devices. Although Microsoft’s patch was not supposed to affect dual-boot devices, many have experienced the issue, which prevents their Linux installations from booting properly.
Some users using Windows and Linux dual-boots are seeing Linux messages «security policy violation» as well as errors «something went seriously wrong». Complaints have appeared on Reddit, Ubuntu forums, and other sites. Microsoft’s patch has affected various distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Linux Mint, Zorin OS, and Puppy Linux.
The update was supposed to fix a vulnerability that allowed hackers to bypass the Secure Boot security technology, which is widely used in Windows and Linux distributions. Earlier this month, Microsoft said that it would apply the Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) update to block vulnerable Linux bootloaders that could affect Windows» security, but that the update would not be applied to dual-booted Windows and Linux systems, so it «should not affect those systems». But something went wrong.
Microsoft hasn’t commented on the problems its update caused. For Ubuntu users, there is a workaround that involves disabling Secure Boot at the BIOS level and then logging into the Ubuntu user account and opening a terminal to remove the Microsoft SBAT policy.
Microsoft has been using Secure Boot in Windows for years and made this technology a key requirement for Windows 11 to protect against BIOS rootkits. Researchers have found many vulnerabilities in Secure Boot.
Source: The Verge
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