Docs: Prevent Hostname Sending Missing Instructions for Fedora

ohno · March 10, 2022, 4:40pm

Does Fedora and Debian work the same way in the tutorial to prevent sending host names? Why don’t I find the files in the tutorial in Fedora, the default template for NET?

github.com

Qubes-Community/Contents/blob/master/docs/privacy/anonymizing-your-mac-address.md


Anonymizing your MAC Address
============================

Although it is not the only metadata broadcast by network hardware, changing the default [MAC Address](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address) of your hardware could be [an important step in protecting privacy](https://tails.boum.org/contribute/design/MAC_address/#index1h1).
Currently, Qubes OS *does not* automatically "anonymize" or spoof the MAC Address, so unless this gets implemented by default you can randomize your MAC Address with the following guide.


## Upgrading and configuring Network Manager in Qubes

Newer versions of Network Manager have options for randomizing MAC addresses, and can handle the entire process across reboots, sleep/wake cycles and different connection states.
In particular, versions 1.4.2 and later should be well suited for Qubes. Qubes R4.0's default sys-net should have 1.8.2-4 by default.  
However, use of the NetworkManager GUI to set these options is **unreliable** - there are numerous reports of changes not being saved for particular cards or interfaces.
You should check carefully that any settings you make in the GUI are saved, before relying on this method.
If the settings are not saved, you can use the method described below using a config file.


Network Manager 1.4.2 or later is available from the Fedora 25 repository as well as the Debian 10 repository.

Check that Network Manager version is now at least 1.4.2:

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tripleh · March 10, 2022, 5:34pm

Not sure. I tested it on Debian 11 only.

Feel free to extend it to Fedora.

ohno · March 11, 2022, 7:03am

My sys-net template is for Fedora, I don’t know how to configure it in Fedora

deeplow · March 11, 2022, 9:57am

(made title more explicit)

Also, I’ve notified the creator of that section about this.

tripleh · March 11, 2022, 3:50pm

I randomly booted my outdated Fedora 34 template and noticed that there is no /etc/dhcp/dhclient.conf even though dhclient is installed. So I guess that step can simply be skipped on Fedora. I haven’t tested it though and won’t do it as messing with the template of sys-net is quite a pain.

Anyway it would be nice if people stepped up a bit and tested stuff for themselves and updated the community doc or just stayed with the defaults. Blindly executing instructions from the Internet without understanding anything about them inevitably leads to a mess.

@deeplow I’m the author.

tripleh · March 11, 2022, 5:04pm

Btw thanks to @unman who originally posted these instructions on this very forum. I just put them on the community doc.

unman · March 11, 2022, 5:13pm

Has anyone tested to see if the hostname is actually sent?

I usually use openBSD, but I’ve just fired up a debian-11 sys-net, and
the hostname is not hitting the router.
I see that the dhclient.conf will send host-name derived from a call to
gethostname() - since that isn’t installed it appears that nothing gets
sent.

I never presume to speak for the Qubes team.
When I comment in the Forum or in the mailing lists I speak for myself.

ohno · March 15, 2022, 7:23am

I can’t change the Fedora configuration, which is too difficult for me as a novice. Also, if the change is successful, how should I test it out?