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#rustdesk#vnc#password#need#crack#access#more#random#words#https

Discussion (56 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

inktypeabout 3 hours ago
RustDesk still does not support encrypted connections when self hosting: https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/issues/3714
SubiculumCodeabout 2 hours ago
I think you bring up a fine point. Most applications have encryption built in and transparent to the user. While technical IT people in charge of infrastructure will not make this assumption, it is not unreasonable, at the same time, for small business / individual users, to not understand or know of this limitation.

VNC does not, for example, and you need to set up port forwarding through ssh. X2Go does....but I don't trust it terribly. So, RustDesk..what do you need to wrap it in? ssh?

I really want a better solution that VNC/X2Go..especially since I use hardware accelerated apps that need to use VGL to operate correctly (but underwhich operation is quite buggy).

dj0k3rabout 2 hours ago
Tailscale, or any encrypted mesh overlay is perfect for this. Infact I prefer it that way. Rustdesk can do what it does best at its core.
preisschildabout 1 hour ago
I disagree, modern software should make encrypted connections over something like HTTP3 or QUIC directly so true secure end to end connectivity works. This would make VPN software such as tailscale obsolete.
elevationabout 1 hour ago
I'm also in favor of adding encrypted connections to RustDesk, not to replace tailscale, but as a part of this complete breakfast. Tailscale provides mutually authenticated, authorized L3 access. TLS can be configured to provide mutually authenticated L4 access. With a little OIDC/webauthn setup, both L3/L4 support device attestation, meaning there's no way to connect without e.g. a yubikey (or perhaps an enrolled TPM.)
marshray28 minutes ago
So I'm supposed to set up PKI before I can open a remote console connection?

Please just make it work seamlessly with my existing SSH credentials. Like SFTP.

thatfunkymunkiabout 1 hour ago
agreed, zero-trust solution with proper endpoint security and PKI is superior to transport encryption and insecure protocols
woobenabout 2 hours ago
Your statement is not entirely accurate. This only applies when using Direct IP Access on local networks, which is off by default. Their justification and invitation to PRs is the final comment [1] on the issue you linked. Why are you leaving this information out of your comment?

1 - https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/issues/3714#issuecommen...

SubiculumCodeabout 2 hours ago
It may only apply to Direct IP Access, but isn't that what many would expect (not trusting middleman to be secure?)
preisschildabout 1 hour ago
I still think its an essential feature for self-hosting, but they seem to be open to PRs so what is the problem?
shevy-java8 minutes ago
Is Wayland finally feature complete to xorg or are they still refusing to?
throwaway27448about 3 hours ago
What is rustdesk and how is it distinct from vnc?

Edit: i appreciate the explanations; thank you.

pizza234about 2 hours ago
VNC and RustDesk are both remote desktop solutions, however, Rustdesk is considerably more performant than the VNC family, because the latter primarily sends framebuffer updates, while the former can use modern video codecs and temporal compression to encode screen changes much more efficiently.
shockabout 1 hour ago
> Rustdesk is considerably more performant than the VNC family

It consumes, on the client, 800%-1200% CPU AND 8%-10% GPU decode on my NVIDIA card. I opened a bug and they transformed it into a discussion, without any response.

vablingsabout 3 hours ago
Well first there was TeamViewer which was VNC with more bells and whistles then it became enshittified. Then anydesk came along and ate up teamviewer then that became enshittified, Now we have rustdesk which seems to hopefully be a bit more immune to being enshittified.

If you already use VNC this is not something for you

mschildabout 1 hour ago
RustDesk is also open source including the server so you can fully self-host.
topspinabout 2 hours ago
I've noticed that RealVNC has hidden their formerly free VNC desktop client, now called RealVNC Classic Viewer, behind an enterprise subscription login, and replaced it with a different cloud first thing, RealVNC Connect Viewer, that requires a login to at least obtain, and is anemic in terms of features.

Not that RealVNC is VNC. However, enshittification has clearly taken another scalp.

rcxdudeabout 3 hours ago
VNC is one way of doing remote GUI access (well, more a family of different protocols and products with different capabilities and tradeoffs). RustDesk is just another product that does the same thing but doesn't have a specific connection to VNC as a protocol so e.g. doesn't have to handle legacy authentication modes and stream formats. In my experience most remote access solutions beat VNC for performance, for example.
boardwaalkabout 1 hour ago
Is there a reason to use this over something like Sunshine/Moonlight?
SubiculumCode25 minutes ago
I had a heck of a time ever getting that to work. Also, can that support multiple concurrent users?
himata411325 minutes ago
rustdesk just works, moonlight and sunshine is janky as hell outside the local network due to the fact it uses like 5 different streams.
andaiabout 4 hours ago
Menu css looks a bit dodgy with the notification at the top:

https://files.catbox.moe/d5ztxi.jpg

ChocolateGodabout 3 hours ago
How does this work on a technical level?

Does it framebuffer grab the current session and inject input events?

jchw3 minutes ago
Usually the way to be able to even get the login screen is to use DRM/KMS based capture and use uinput for device emulation. It doesn't strictly need root but it does need privileges a user wouldn't have, like access to the DRM card nodes and uinput device. Sunshine does it this way.

It entirely sidesteps the problem of X vs Wayland, although this does mean the unattended physical seat can be physically taken over while you are remote.

hparadizabout 2 hours ago
Yea I need to know this before I even consider something like this. I'm guessing it's a daemon that runs as root in the background.
GlacierFoxabout 1 hour ago
Does this work without a screen on the remote machine? I have a server with SSH access if like to view for bespoke tasks now and then.
Keltesethabout 2 hours ago
Funny that the video in the blog post still needs X. I will see myself out....
Fidelixabout 1 hour ago
No need to announce
manavabout 3 hours ago
Does my screen have to be on?
LoganDarkabout 3 hours ago
RustDesk should fix their password requirements: https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/discussions/2888
applfanboysbgonabout 3 hours ago
It's open-source, so just build it yourself with the tiny change. Something this trivial could be done with a 30 second prompt at this point, so there's not even an excuse of "too much effort".

I will note that the XKCD password scheme being proposed there is, in fact, completely insecure. A modern consumer GPU can crack "four random English words" in a day. You can argue that it's the user's choice to be allowed to use insecure passwords, but arguing that that scheme is actually secure is just wrong.

bilkowabout 1 hour ago
> A modern consumer GPU can crack "four random English words" in a day.

Let's run the math:

EFF's long wordlist[0] (the one used by Bitwarden's passphrase generator) has 7776 words, which is about 13 bits of entropy per word (log2(7776) = 12.92). A 4-word passphrase then has 51.7 bits of entropy, meaning there are 2^51.7 possible options for the passphrase, which is 3.66E15 possible options.

For reference, a password with all completely random characters and symbols, for each character you have 70 possibilities, or about 6 bits of entropy. An 8-character completely random password (no words or the usual patterns) then has about 49 bits of entropy, which is less than a 4 word passphrase.

About the time it takes to crack it, assuming you can test an average of 1 password per μs (you probably can't, as passwords are usually stored using key derivation functions[1][2] with work factors tweaked for current hardware) it would take ~116 years to crack it. I usually see 5-passphrase recommended nowadays, which would multiply the required effort by 7776.

Sure, a 16-character random password has a lot more entropy, but it's also a lot harder to interact with (reading, comparing, typing) if you end up needing to, and it's still easier to crack than an 8-word passphrase.

[0] https://www.eff.org/dice [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Key_derivation_function [2] https://cheatsheetseries.owasp.org/cheatsheets/Password_Stor...

applfanboysbgonabout 1 hour ago
> assuming you can test an average of 1 password per μs (you probably can't, as passwords are usually stored using key derivation functions

You are not (usually) in control of what services use to encrypt your password, and most software in the world uses a basic hash like MD5 or SHA-256 rather than a key derivation function, meaning you are wildly, wildly underestimating the number of guesses per second here. To suggest that passwords are "usually" stored like that is just wildly incorrect. Only well-educated, high-quality engineers who care about security, a vanishingly tiny portion of the industry, even think about things like this. I still run into government services that e-mail me my password in plaintext.

---

Sorry, but edit attaching a reply to another comment here because HN rate-limits me:

> This is just completely false.

My mid-tier laptop GPU can crack the usual wordlist in under 12 hours against MD5 (46 billion guesses per second), or about 3 days against SHA-256 (6.5 billion guesses per second). A desktop 4090 would likely crack SHA-256 in under a day (on average).

I make claims with confidence because I am speaking about facts. Why are you making claims with confidence when you have no idea what you're talking about? The quality of discourse on this site is so, so low.

tredre3about 3 hours ago
> A modern consumer GPU can crack "four random English words" in a day. [...] but arguing that that scheme is actually secure is just wrong.

Let me do just that!

This is a networked service. You send your password (or a hashed form) to it, and it validates it. You don't have the local hash to bruteforce it offline.

Even if we only consider the top 10k english words, it's 10000^4. It's going to take years to bruteforce this over a network because you'll go through so many rate-limits, cooldown periods, and outright bans that it's questionable whether it's even possible.

tialaramexabout 3 hours ago
> This is a networked service. You send your password (or a hashed form) to it

Hopefully neither. But given everybody involved in VNC seems to be the same batch of clueless morons who built all those PHP web forums twenty years ago with MD5 as the password hash, who knows what they cobbled together. Maybe an expert can chime in about what actually happens here?

Yes, for a sensible scheme this can't work.

applfanboysbgonabout 3 hours ago
Virtually any password other than "password123" is fine if you're rate limited to a few guesses per day by a networked service. Passwords should be secure against the inevitable data breach when the service you're using loses their hashed password database, which happens on a routine basis.
wavemodeabout 1 hour ago
> A modern consumer GPU can crack "four random English words" in a day.

This is just completely false.

Fidelixabout 1 hour ago
Did you even check what hash they are using?
throwaway27448about 3 hours ago
> A modern consumer GPU can crack "four random English words" in a day.

Sure, if you can rely on users using a specific format. The joy of the xkcd technique is you don't need to tell other people what yours is.

But, people just aren't going to remember strings of gibberish. Expecting users to do this is just silly.

applfanboysbgonabout 3 hours ago
The "joy of the XKCD technique" is that it prescribes a specific format millions of people will use, and it's so trivial to break that you can throw it into your cracking algorithm at virtually no cost.

If you were willing to use a bespoke, more secure variation of it, you could include a capital letter and a number rather than filing an issue on a repo insisting that you be allowed to use exactly the insecure variation.

aspbee555about 2 hours ago
RustDesk works so much better and easier than vnc and other vendored solutions. No need to open ports, no need for vpn, it just works, no account BS, no vendor lock in BS.

I have used RustDesk for years, also run my own lookup/relay server so I do not need to rely on the public lookup server

While everything else gets enshitified RustDesk just keeps getting better

wartywhoa23about 2 hours ago
Definitely a lifesaver for tech support!

And the fact it's self-hosted is priceless.

SubiculumCodeabout 2 hours ago
Without self-hosting, how can I be sure that the middleman server layer won't affect my security?
zuzululuabout 1 hour ago
wonder if it can support gaming and sounds too ?
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7bitabout 3 hours ago
Okay. The feature I'm waiting for is the self-hosted web client.
zuzululuabout 4 hours ago
so this means I can be on a vacation, turn on my ubuntu desktop remotely, login and control it ? I have a strong need for this as my desktop is also a server
VorpalWayabout 3 hours ago
For a remote Linux system you can also do a lot over plain SSH as well.
ameliusabout 3 hours ago
You can already do this with VNC or Xpra (the latter is a screen/tmux for graphical applications).
zuzululuabout 1 hour ago
so whats the edge that rustdesk that offers ? gaming ?