This Week in TUXEDO OS #05-2025 - TUXEDO Computers

Hello TUXEDO Fans and Open-Source Enthusiasts!

Our hardworking penguins have been tinkering, optimizing, and cleaning up again! This time, we’ve got a fix for upgrade issues, new browser strategies for Ubuntu, and a workaround for the suspend issue on the Nano Pro Gen13. Also in focus: the Elisa music player and a trick for a slim Firefox homepage.

Enjoy reading,
The TUXEDO OS Team

TUXEDO OS Updates

Updated Linux Kernels for TUXEDO OS

Kernel Versions

• v5.15.0–10131.141₂₀.04.1tux1
• v6.8.0–110052.53₂₂.04.1tux1
• v6.8.0–110052.53tux1
• v6.11.0–108014.15₂₄.04.1tux2

Changes

• Rebase to the current Ubuntu kernels for Focal, Jammy, and TUXEDO OS (based on Noble). TUXEDO OS (Jammy) is EOL, so kernel updates will no longer be provided for this version.
• Optimizations and adjustments for TUXEDO OS.

tuxedo-drivers 4.12.1 (Git)

• Device Check Change: The detection of the fixed five-color keyboard backlighting on NB02 devices (e.g., Infinitybook Pro - Gen9) now occurs based on DMI strings rather than EC-ID.
• Changelog Cleanup: The changes have been ordered chronologically, and the changelog has been cleaned up.
• Automatic RPM Changelog Generation: The RPM changelog is now automatically generated from the DEB changelog.

tuxedo-bt-off-suspend v1.0.0 (Git)

• Suspend Issue Workaround for Nano Pro Gen13: This package provides a fix for the suspend issue on Nano Pro Gen13.
• Automatic Installation to Follow: A module for TUXEDO Tomte for automatic installation on affected devices is being prepared.
• DEB/RPM Package Available: The package is available as a DEB and RPM in our repositories and can be manually installed if suspend issues occur on the Nano Pro Gen13.

What else has happened?

Upgrade Issue Fixed

Earlier this week, some users experienced issues while upgrading to Ubuntu 24.04 or TUXEDO OS if the system was installed via WebFAI. The issue affected the grub-efi-amd64-signed package and caused unexpected installation problems.

As the issue didn’t affect all users, troubleshooting was initially difficult. Our developers had to identify a device on which the error could be reproduced. However, within 24 hours, we were able to provide a fix that resolved the problem with a subsequent upgrade.

Change in the Delivery of Firefox and Chromium for Ubuntu

Starting with Ubuntu 24.04, we will be delivering the Firefox and Chromium browsers exclusively as Snap packages, in line with Canonical’s official delivery method. This change significantly reduces maintenance efforts and ensures users always receive the latest versions.

The need for this change arose because we had previously provided Firefox and Chromium as DEB packages for Ubuntu 22.04. However, starting with Ubuntu 24.04, these browsers are now fetched from the TUXEDO OS repository. Users who had the DEB versions from Ubuntu 22.04 no longer received updates for Firefox and Chromium after upgrading to 24.04.

For TUXEDO OS, nothing changes: Firefox and Chromium will continue to be delivered as DEB packages.

KDE App of the Week: Music Player Elisa

In our „KDE App of the Week“ series, we’ve previously introduced the legendary jukebox player Amarok. Today, we focus on a more streamlined member of the same category: the music player Elisa.

Elisa is a modern, user-friendly audio player developed by the KDE community. It emphasizes easy-to-use controls and seamless integration with the KDE desktop. Some key features include:

• Simple and intuitive interface: Elisa uses a minimalist design, focusing on clarity and ease of navigation. Configuration mainly involves selecting music folders.

• Music management: The music collection can be browsed by artists, albums, genres, or tracks. It also includes features for creating and managing playlists and displaying metadata.

• KDE integration: Elisa supports the KDE color scheme and integrates smoothly into the Plasma desktop environment. It is also cross-platform, working on Windows as well.

• Online features: In addition to locally stored music, Elisa supports internet radio and streaming services—focusing on privacy protection.

• Technical base: The player is built on Qt 5, KDE Frameworks 5, and technologies such as Baloo (file indexing) and KFileMetaData.

• HiDPI support: Optimized for high-resolution displays, Elisa ensures crisp visuals on modern monitors.

• Supported audio formats: MP3, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, and WAV are supported by default. Actual compatibility depends on the GStreamer plugins installed on the system, and additional formats can be added via extensions.

Elisa is the perfect choice for anyone looking for a sleek, elegant music player without the clutter of complex management features. For more updated KDE apps, check out the This Week in KDE Apps column.

TUXEDO OS Tips & Tricks: Simpler Firefox Homepage

The Mozilla Corporation, part of the Mozilla Foundation, which is responsible for developing and distributing the open-source projects Firefox and Thunderbird, generates revenue through the integration of search engine providers into the browser’s address bar and, in some cases, ads embedded in the browser (highlighted in yellow in the screenshot). For technical and principled reasons, we do not wish to interfere with the funding of Mozilla’s projects in TUXEDO OS, so we deliver the Firefox browser in its default configuration with integrated ads on the homepage.

However, you can disable these ads in just a few clicks:

1. Open Settings by clicking the gear icon on the Firefox homepage.
2. Uncheck the options Sponsored shortcuts and Sponsored stories.
3. Optionally, you can also completely disable Recommended stories.
4. Finally, remove the pre-configured shortcuts to Facebook, YouTube, or eBay.

Disable Pocket

Another often criticized feature of Firefox is the bookmarking service Pocket (formerly Read It Later), which Mozilla acquired in 2017. With Pocket, users can save articles and videos to read later—offline as well. The service removes ads and unnecessary graphic elements automatically. Saved content can also be accessed via apps on smartphones and tablets, with synchronization occurring via Pocket’s servers.

If you don’t use Pocket, there is no simple way to hide the icon and related controls in Firefox settings. Instead, you will need to manually disable the underlying add-on:

1. Type [about:config] in the address bar to open advanced settings.
2. Search for [pocket].
3. Set the entry [extensions.pocket.enabled] from [true] to [false].

This will remove Pocket completely from Firefox without requiring further intervention.

Ubuntu Security Updates

The security updates listed here from Ubuntu are directly integrated into TUXEDO OS:

• USN-7238–2: Linux kernel (Oracle) vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2024–53164
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10

• USN-7235–2: Linux kernel (Azure) Unknown kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2024–53164, CVE-2024–53141
  Affected: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7234–2: Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–40967, CVE-2024–53164, CVE-2023–21400, and 2 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7233–2: Linux kernel (Azure) vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–26929, CVE-2024–26663, CVE-2024–38661, and 12 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7246–1: jQuery vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in jQuery.
  Identifier: CVE-2020–11022, CVE-2020–11023
  Affected: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7245–1: MySQL vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in MySQL.
  Identifier: CVE-2025–21540, CVE-2025–21559, CVE-2025–21522, and 12 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7242–1: Tomcat vulnerability: Tomcat could be made to execute programs when receiving specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2016–8735
  Affected: Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7244–1: Jinja2 vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in Jinja2.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–56201, CVE-2024–56326
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7243–1: VLC vulnerability: VLC could be made to crash or execute programs when receiving specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–46461
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

• USN-7236–2: Linux kernel (Low Latency) vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53164, CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2024–53141
  Affected: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• USN-7241–1: Bind vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in Bind.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–12705, CVE-2024–11187
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7157–3: PHP vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in PHP.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–8929, CVE-2024–11233, CVE-2024–8932, and 1 other
  Affected: Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

• USN-7240–1: libxml2 vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in libxml2.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–34459, CVE-2022–49043
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7239–1: libmicrodns vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in libmicrodns.
  Identifier: CVE-2020–6072, CVE-2020–6080, CVE-2020–6078, and 4 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7238–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53164, CVE-2024–53103
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

• USN-7237–1: Linux kernel (OEM) vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2024–53141, CVE-2024–53164, and 1 other
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

• USN-7236–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53164, CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2024–53141
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• USN-7235–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53164, CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2024–53141
  Affected: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7234–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–40967, CVE-2024–53103, CVE-2023–21400, and 2 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7233–1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–26929, CVE-2024–26663, CVE-2024–38661, and 12 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

• USN-7232–1: Linux kernel vulnerability: The system could be made to crash or execute programs as an administrator.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–53141
  Affected: Ubuntu 14.04 ESM

• USN-7231–1: Tcpreplay vulnerabilities: Tcpreplay could be made to crash when it received specially crafted inputs.
  Identifier: CVE-2023–27783, CVE-2023–4256, CVE-2023–27786, and 6 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, Ubuntu 18.04 ESM, Ubuntu 16.04 ESM

• USN-7206–3: rsync vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in rsync.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–12087, CVE-2024–12085, CVE-2024–12084, and 3 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10

• USN-7179–4: Linux kernel (Xilinx ZynqMP) vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in the Linux kernel.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–43904, CVE-2024–40973, CVE-2020–12352, and 11 others
  Affected: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

• USN-7230–2: FRR vulnerabilities: FRR could be made to crash or exhibit reduced performance when receiving specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–55553, CVE-2024–44070
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

• USN-7230–1: Quagga vulnerability: Quagga could be made to crash when receiving specially crafted network traffic.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–44070
  Affected: Ubuntu 18.04 ESM

• USN-7229–1: ClamAV vulnerability: ClamAV could be made to crash when opening a specially crafted file.
  Identifier: CVE-2025–20128
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

• USN-7228–1: LibreOffice vulnerabilities: Several security issues have been fixed in LibreOffice.
  Identifier: CVE-2024–12426, CVE-2024–12425
  Affected: Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Current BIOS/EC Versions

An EC/BIOS update affects key system components. Please ensure that you follow the instructions carefully and take your time. The process is usually completed quickly. If you have any doubts, our support team is happy to assist you. The following devices have BIOS/EC updates available: