RustDesk: I Found This Open-Source TeamViewer Alternative Impressive!

@petsoi@discuss.tchncs.de you might want to add that warning to the post.

They also tried to submit the app to Flathub, but had way too broad permissions with no explanation why. "Users expect filesystem access" etc. In the end it was rejected and they publish a .flatpak file themselves.

https://github.com/flathub/flathub/pull/5233

The other points are far worse though.

To add on:

• There is no transparency about who is behind it. It just a Github account called "Rustdesk." It could be a real company in Singapore or it could be some guy in China as people have speculated.

• The Rustdesk software needs way more permissions than necessary. This became evident with the flatpak as they did sandbox escapes which prevented them from being on flathub

• The Rustdesk distribution is entirely centralize release server run by Rustdesk. They could easily push out malware to lots of devices.

• They have done some sketchy things in the past. One of the things they did was quietly switch Linux desktops back to X11.

• The Rustdesk system is not terribly resistant to brute forcing. The weak password means they someone could try every combination.

• Rustdesk docker deployment docker compose exposes all ports on the host. This is minor but it could lead to a sandbox excape.

• Rustdesk servers keep getting hosted in countries that have freedom problems such as China and Russia.

Wow that's so sketchy.

Okayyyy… thats not great. I just read one of the threads and thats scary.

The person(s?) maintaining this seems to be VERY BAD at communicating. They did fix the auto start problem but did not at all discuss this from what I see. Thats not great.

Really sad about this, because Rust Desk has been the absolute best remote access tool I've ever used in the IT world, and that includes many different professional tools like Ninja& Teamviewer.

It's so clean, easy to install and run, fast and low latency, handles multi-monitors great, runs on mobile, Linux, Windows, etc.

Such a shame that it is mired in controversy.

Wth is that, that is the most anti-idiomatic code I have ever seen

https://github.com/rustdesk/rustdesk/blob/master/src%2Fplatform%2Flinux.rs#L176

pub fn get_cursor() -> ResultType<Option<u64>> {
    let mut res = None;
    DISPLAY.with(|conn| {
        if let Ok(d) = conn.try_borrow_mut() {
            if !d.is_null() {
                unsafe {
                    let img = XFixesGetCursorImage(*d);
                    if !img.is_null() {
                        res = Some((*img).cursor_serial as u64);
                        XFree(img as _);
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    });
    Ok(res)
}

I'm not an expert but this seems wrong.

What?

Rust doesn't solve all security issues in codebase?

People should take note of that; I surely did...

Source:

Is there a good, free, cross platform alternative?

Also they make you pay for 2FA

I had the impression that it has a Russian connection, but anyways, it's good to be in the lookout for such things

China is good though? At least that ensures they aren't a CIA operation.

Itsfoss is indeed written by ChatGPT I think

they have a pro server with more features that’s closed source and paid

Binary blobs i thought

For what its worth it does have a great UI

authentication is also stuck behind their subscription. for random customers to be able to use your servers, you also have to let everyone else on the internet use it.

I spent like 20 minutes self hosting and running over tailscale so traffic is always private... Never had an issue. I've got over 20 devices accessible on it.

Easy to remote register over ssh just by sending the installer plus running with server name plus key, then setting a static password.

I still think gaming wide moonlight is great though. You won't really regret that.

yes

It works very well and there is no speed difference at all. Of course you wont ever get anything worth in life without either putting in the work or paying either with money or your privacy.

I guess it's just written in Rust.

Have you tried changing the default view from Columns to List? IMO it makes the UI much better. Then you can add in a more details about each PC on the main view. Make is very useful if you have a lot of computers you are managing.

You can also switch from the left bar interface to top bar interface. That looks better to me. Also dark mode.

And sadly MeshCentral is pretty much death development wise, isn't it? The main dev left Intel and now has not enough time for the project, wasn't that the story?

Edit: it seems to be developed again, much slower,though. But better than nothing.