Anonymity How to change Linux Machine ID

[Jaysu]

What is machine id

The /etc/machine-id file contains the unique machine ID of the local system that is set during installation or boot.

The machine ID is usually generated from a random source during system installation or first boot and stays constant for all subsequent boots. Optionally, for stateless systems, it is generated during runtime during early boot if necessary.

To get your machine id you can print the file :

Code:
cat /etc/machine-id
The simple configuration file format of /etc/machine-id originates in the /var/lib/dbus/machine-id file introduced by D-Bus. In fact, this latter file might be a symlink to /etc/machine-id

How to spoof this machine id

We can use python for this:

Code:
python3 -c "import uuid; print(uuid.uuid1().hex)"
Simple bash script (needs sudo permission!)

Code:
cp -R /etc/machine-id /etc/machine-id.bak
x=$(python3 -c "import uuid; print(uuid.uuid1().hex)")
echo $x > /etc/machine-id