Re:Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid
by bryancoxwell on Tuesday February 24, 2026 @06:45PM
(#47145199)
Not sure what IMSI rotation has to do with baseband vulnerabilities?
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Re:Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid
by dlenski on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @12:47AM
(#47147801)
It stymies attempts to track mobile devices over multi-day periods using their IMSIs.
Trackability is definitely a vulnerability.
Re:Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid
by bryancoxwell on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @06:38AM
(#47150231)
Right but it’s not a baseband vulnerability
Re:Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid
by dlenski on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @01:29PM
(#47155605)
Huh …?
IMSI tracking is a consequence of how baseband devices communicate over-the-air, just as WiFi MAC address tracking is a consequence of how 802.11 devices communicate over-the-air.
And it's definitely a vulnerability, because it's used to track end users and reduce their privacy.
So it IS a baseband vulnerability. And IMSI randomization mitigates it to some degree, just as WiFi and Bluetooth MAC randomization mitigate tracking via those identifiers.
Re:Cell Service for the Fairly Paranoid
by bryancoxwell on Wednesday February 25, 2026 @02:09PM
(#47156267)
I’m arguing that just because a baseband processor is involved that doesn’t mean IMSI tracking is a vulnerability of the baseband processor itself. IMSI provisioning and randomization cannot be done without cooperation with the network operator and has nothing to do with the baseband processor itself.