Bug 455267

Summary:	Applications are able to unmute microphone globally
Product:	[Frameworks and Libraries] pulseaudio-qt	Reporter:	Josesk Volpe <joseskvolpe>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Nicolas Fella <nicolas.fella>
Status:	RESOLVED NOT A BUG
Severity:	normal	CC:	nate
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Manjaro
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description Josesk Volpe 2022-06-14 18:46:02 UTC

SUMMARY
While i was in the class using Zoom, i've noticed it's able to globally unmute my microphone while i've muted it from the applet
The applet is designed as a privacy tool where i can disable audio input to make sure my voice is not being transmitted, but if the application is able to unmute it as it own, it makes it kinda useless. That's a security breach.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
I've discovered this issue with Zoom, wich is a proprietary application. I don't know other applications that has this issue.
1. Join a Zoom meeting
2. Mute microphone on Zoom
3. Mute microphone on Plasma applet globally
4 . Unmute microphone on Zoom

OBSERVED RESULT
When pressing the unmute button on Zoom, the application enables the microphone globally by itself. It's able to record your voice.

EXPECTED RESULT
While Zoom is unmuted, it would still not be able to hear your voice because your microphone is globally muted. It shouldn't unmute you globally, it should only be able to hear you when you globally unmute aswell by the Plasma applet.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Manjaro Linux
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.94.0
Qt Version: 5.15.4
Kernel Version: 5.17.13-1-MANJARO (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 4 × Intel® Core™ i3-7100U CPU @ 2.40GHz
Memory: 11.6 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® HD Graphics 620

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Zoom version: 5.10.7 (3311)
Using PulseAudio (16.0) and Xorg
plasma-pa version is 5.24.5-1, but it isn't available on the Version list.

Comment 1 Nicolas Fella 2022-06-14 19:31:50 UTC

> The applet is designed as a privacy tool where i can disable audio input to make sure my voice is not being transmitted

No, it is not designed to do that

Comment 2 Nate Graham 2022-06-15 17:54:19 UTC

> That's a security breach.

> Graphics Platform: X11

On X11 with distro apps, apps have global access to everything. If you want more security, you can use Wayland and get all your apps from Flatpak or snap, which are sandboxed and let you clock this kind of thing.