Advice Request 0patch - how safe it really is?

[enaph]

Hi,

I just have seen that some people here are using 0patch so I started to sniffing around and some questions raised immediately.
My biggest concern is the fact that they are releasing patches for Windows vulnerabilities and I am not really convinced that letting any 3rd party playing with the code of critical system components is 100% safe.
What are your thoughts about this?

 

[mekelek]

this is actually pretty useful and well executed, plus the detection of exploitation is a plus. gonna try it out.
i mean, you would be surprised what you allow some 3rd party security software to do too..

 

[Sunshine-boy]

yes, it is safe!

 

[HarborFront]

I feel safer to let MS patch up its vulnerabilities instead of by 3rd-parties. After all if it's a serious vulnerability MS will release a patch immediately, if needed.

 

[DeepWeb]

I like the idea. It's a collaborative effort where programmers around the world can contribute. Microsoft won't always have the patch ready. For example, 0patch patched that massive vulnerability in Windows Defender days before Microsoft did.

 

[BugCode]

Never trust the code!...
,,,but if it's your made it's another thingy :d and always want to see the code, sure you must know something about code what it is exactly and what it does etc...

Regards: The bug of your code aka BugCode!

 

[Atlas147]

Seems like a temporary fix for major vulnerabilities, not sure how well it would go with different softwares, might even break some of them with this small piece of code.

I still feel safer waiting for the official patch.

 

[mlnevese]

Will it interfere with Windows updates? It looks interesting but i see a potential for a whole new way of being hit by vulnerabilities and bugs that won't receive all the attention from the public that a windows bug does.

 

[Fritz]

Thanks for letting me know, never heard of it but it sure looks interesting!

 

[mekelek]

Will it interfere with Windows updates? It looks interesting but i see a potential for a whole new way of being hit by vulnerabilities and bugs that won't receive all the attention from the public that a windows bug does.

no it won't, you can instantly remove an exploit patch, their way of doing seems to be unique/easy to disable.

 

[Atlas147]

Honestly I have never encountered an exploit in the wild so I'm not sure how much this would actually affect my security, especially if this causes incompatibility issues with their "patched" softwares

 

[shmu26]

It sounds like you are placing your OS and apps in the hands of an anonymous and loosely organized group of coders. There is no way to know what will happen. The idea makes me nervous.

 

[mlnevese]

It sounds like you are placing your OS and apps in the hands of an anonymous and loosely organized group of coders. There is no way to know what will happen. The idea makes me nervous.

As long as the patches are open source I wouldn't worry about it... incompatibility, new bugs and new vulnerabilities added by the unofficial patches would be my greatest concern.

 

[shmu26]

As long as the patches are open source I wouldn't worry about it... incompatibility, new bugs and new vulnerabilities added by the unofficial patches would be my greatest concern.

You said it well. Isn't that enough to make you worried?

 

[enaph]

As long as the patches are open source I wouldn't worry about it...

How many of us can actually read and understand the source code...?

 

[shmu26]

How many of us can actually read and understand the source code...?

We can assume that a number of this service's users are experienced coders who are curious enough and paranoid enough to take a look at the patches pushed out to them. So that gives you some built-in community vetting.
But, like @minevese said before: "incompatibility, new bugs and new vulnerabilities added by the unofficial patches would be my greatest concern.

 

[enaph]

Just to clarify my statement: I don't say that 0patch is unsafe or their intentions are bad but like @shmu26 said:

It sounds like you are placing your OS and apps in the hands of an anonymous and loosely organized group of coders. There is no way to know what will happen. The idea makes me nervous.

IMHO patching of the software should be done by it's original developers and not by group of enthusiasts (no matter how good are their intentions) as this kind of activities could potentially lead to malfunctions and data losses.
Any discovered vulnerabilities should be reported to the developers instead of letting some anonymous coders do their work just to gain profit.

 

[212eta]

I feel safer to let MS patch up its vulnerabilities instead of by 3rd-parties.

I feel the same.
Microsoft knows best when it comes to Windows.

 

[Sunshine-boy]

it's safe I installed it but removed it fast:/also its beta if I'm not wrong.
the Q360 has a better feature that checks ur PC for security patches...

 

[frogboy]

I wonder how reliable it is.