Ubuntu installer kills LUKS partitions without warning

[Dr. David Alan Gilbert]

* Arno Wagner (arno at wagner.name) wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> first, I don't have Ubuntu and I don't plan on using it.
> As I did not find another way that allows me to report 
> a serious issue without subscribing to something, I use
> this venue.
> 
> 
> Please forward this to the Ubuntu installer development team.
> 
> 
> The dm-crypt mailing list (archive here:
> http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.device-mapper.dm-crypt)
> has had several reports that the Ubuntu installer creates 
> new LUKS partitions (encrypted partitions) on top of exisiting
> ones without giving adequate warning and at the same time
> giving the impression that the existing LUKS partition would be
> activated. The rather clear warning and verification question 
> asked by the cryptsetup tool seems to get disabled with the
> "--batch-mode" option.
> 
> This causes irreversible loss of all data! Nothing 
> (in the cryptographically strong sense) can be done
> to get the data back!

The bug below seems to be the equivalent of what is being 
described on the list:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/partman-crypto/+bug/194946
(from 2008)

The good news is it's marked as high priority - the bad news
is it's been high priority for over a year.

Now that is a report for the alternate installer, and you
generally need the alternate installer for doing LUKS stuff;
what I don't know (not tried) is what happens if you try
the standard installer on a machine with a LUKS partition.
My reading of the thread on the dm-crypt list was that it
was people using the alternate installer to install
to existing LUKS partitions.


> Checking for an existing LUKS partition is easy,    
> it has the magic string 'L','U','K','S, 0xBA, 0xBe  
> at the beginning. It seems this is not checked for,
> or no additional warning or only inadequate additional
> warning is given if a pre-exisiting LUKS partition 
> is about to be permanently and irretrivably erased.
> 
> Please fix the installer ASAP and if you need help doing    
> it right, _ask_! We will be happy to help.


Dave
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