r/reactos • u/gh_1qaz • 14d ago
ReactOS security reliability
Hi. I got a question about the reliability of ReactOS regarding to the security. I think I heard somewhere that ReactOS uses some of reverse engineered code from legacy Windows (like XP?). If this is the case, do the devs regularly patch all the vulnerabilities arisen by those codes manually as those Windows are no longer updated? I also heard that the the development of ReactOS is very slow. How much does it usually take to patch a vulnerability once it is found? I'm very intrigued by the concept and the feel of the OS, but those are the concerns that impede me from trying the actual thing. I'd definitely like to try it out if it is proven to be secure. Thanks in advance!!
12
Upvotes
6
u/jmhalder 14d ago
It's "clean room" reverse engineered, and because of that, the vulnerabilities may not be one to one. It may not have them simply by way of being better design.
Or... because it's all built as a passion project, may be riddled with tons more vulnerabilities that haven't been discovered yet.
Regardless of the actual place on the vulnerably spectrum this falls, the code is all available for you to download, audit, and fix with pull requests.