Submitted by sudo in Tech (edited )

A huge compilation of Microsoft's proprietary Windows 10 software code has been leaked online, as originally reported by the Register.

The leak contains more than 32 terabytes of data and includes both the Windows 10 source code and other code intended only for internal use at Microsoft, the Register reported. The files, confirmed by Microsoft to be legitimate, include much of the code that Windows 10 uses to work with PC hardware, including its built-in USB, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth drivers.

Hackers and other bad actors are now free to sift through the data looking for potentially vulnerabilities they could exploit.

The code was leaked to BetaArchive.com, a website that seeks to preserve and make public software that would otherwise never see the light of day. The leaked data appears to have been taken from Microsoft starting in March, according to the Register report. Following the release of the Register's report, a BetaArchive moderator said that the site had removed all traces of the leaked Windows code.

In a statement, Microsoft confirms the leaks are legitimate, and says that they appear to come from the Shared Source Initiative — a program that Microsoft runs to share the Windows source code with top PC manufacturers and other partners.

"Our review confirms that these files are actually a portion of the source code from the Shared Source Initiative and is used by OEMs and partners," says a Microsoft spokesperson.

In addition to that hardware code, the leak contains numerous versions of Windows 10 that were never released outside of Microsoft's offices, the Register reported.

9

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

jaidedctrl wrote (edited )

This could be pretty bad for a lot of users-- I wouldn't be surprised if Windows has a lot of slip-shod security-by-obscurity code.
On the brighter side... I'm not sure if it would help at this point, but maybe the ReactOS or Wine projects could use this code to create clean-room implementations for specific components lacking in either projects. Hell, maybe compatibility with "Metro" apps would be possible.

6

mofongo wrote

Neither project allows code derivative of Microsoft leaks, they do this to prevent takedown requests. After all, their only security is literally "all is original code".

3

jaidedctrl wrote

They wouldn't be deriving code from Microsoft leaks, they would be reimplementing some components from Microsoft code, clean-room style. One person reads the code, describes in just specific enough terms so that the other person can implement something that is probably pretty different but works just the same. Clean-room implementations have been done before, and they're on legally solid ground.

3

zer0crash wrote

Couldn't someone use this to make an illegal Windows 10 clone and remove all the shitty Micro$oft junk?

5

sudo OP wrote

Apparently it's only part of the source code, so no. Linux is already a free operating system without the Microsoft junk, so the only reason I could see for anyone doing what you said is if they still wanted to be able to run Windows binaries (and if they want to do that, they should contribute to Wine).

4

zer0crash wrote

Dang. Of course there's Linux (I use it daily) but unless Wine 100% supports Ableton Live, After Effects and 3DS Max etc and hardware drivers OS X and Windows will continue to be the main platform for media creation. Last I knew I could not find a Distro that supported ASIO for my recording interface nor modern gaming, nor accelerated graphics for video editing and compositing.

3

sudo OP wrote

Any reason you have to stick with 3DS Max? Blender is free, and it's been able to do everything I needed (plus it can do video editing). And for Ableton, there's LMMS on Linux, though I can understand if that's not an acceptable substitute. Not sure about After Effects.

If there are only one or two Windows programs holding you back, you could always download a Windows 7 or Windows 10 ISO, then use VirtualBox to create a virtual machine, and deny it any access to the internet.

I know that Blender can use hardware acceleration for 3D rendering, so it probably is able to do the same for video editing. I don't know anything about ASIO, though.

4

zer0crash wrote

It's simply a matter that these FOSS tools dont have the expected features required for a regular-ass production house. Blender and GIMPs UI are both an unsightly nightmare imo and take more time to learn. The Adobe suite is great because of the inter-app integration.

For a production house to switch to FOSS would mean a lot of learning and new limitations.I will Blender some points on the hardware rendering though!

Don't get me wrong, I love FOSS and use linux daily but we need it to gain parity with Windows for it to supplant it and much of that is actually just bad, unintuitive UIs.

I wish there was a great push to redesign the UIs of all major FOSS products, including Linux. The Ubuntu Unity fiasco was a major setback.

2

DeathToAmerica wrote

The problem with that is there really is a lot less money going into Linux than in the past. Development has slowed to a crawl.

2

ziq wrote

I wonder how many fbi backdoors there are in that code.

3