Security when buying a second hand PinePhone
#1
Hi, everyone!

I want to buy this phone https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-bet...e-package/ from another person. They say it's like new and has only been tested.

Where could they hide malware in the phone?

Of course I'll reinstall the operating system and wipe the internal memory, but what types of firmware are there where someone could hide malware?

Is it possible to flash official firmware images from the Pine64 website or at least inspect the current firmware installed and compare a hash with other users? I'll inspect the phone for physical tampering, but if some firmware can be flashed with USB or other ways without desoldering or breaking some sort of seal, how would I know about it?

So basically: what types of firmware is there where malware could hide and how to detect whether the firmware(s) has been tampered with?


Thanks!
  Reply


Messages In This Thread
Security when buying a second hand PinePhone - by PineniP - 12-08-2021, 08:19 AM

Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  PinePhone Pro EU no warranty P. Siera 0 87 07-21-2025, 12:08 AM
Last Post: P. Siera
  US Mobile, via T-Mobile, won't support Pinephone Pro - SOLVED, SIMPLY jovval 14 10,902 07-18-2025, 04:24 PM
Last Post: dchang0
  Pinephone visibly losing power while plugged in Hiraghm 2 816 05-23-2025, 12:30 PM
Last Post: Kevin Kofler
  Pinephone Pro Neural Processing Unit biketool 0 753 03-26-2025, 11:01 AM
Last Post: biketool
  contact sales pinephone janjansen1312 2 1,158 03-17-2025, 07:29 PM
Last Post: tllim
  PinePhone Pro P. Siera 4 2,563 03-14-2025, 07:00 PM
Last Post: Kevin Kofler
  [Article] PR Test Bot for PinePhone (Avaota-A1 SBC / Apache NuttX RTOS) lupyuen 0 750 03-08-2025, 02:43 PM
Last Post: lupyuen
Star Selling my Pinephone Pro Explorer Edition zheyon 0 1,219 01-31-2025, 02:27 PM
Last Post: zheyon
  PinePhone earpiece too quiet Waffelo 3 1,573 01-01-2025, 09:41 PM
Last Post: Kevin Kofler
Question WhatsApp & Pinephone - What are the alternatives for collaborative comms? danimations 15 22,780 12-27-2024, 03:02 AM
Last Post: biketool

Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)