linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 00/12] One more attempt at useful kernel lockdown

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <522F768F.1000101@zytor.com>
Date:	Tue, 10 Sep 2013 12:44:15 -0700
From:	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>
To:	David Lang <david@...g.hm>
CC:	Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
	"gregkh@...uxfoundation.org" <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
	Matthew Garrett <matthew.garrett@...ula.com>,
	Henrique de Moraes Holschuh <hmh@....eng.br>,
	"Valdis.Kletnieks@...edu" <Valdis.Kletnieks@...edu>,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	"linux-efi@...r.kernel.org" <linux-efi@...r.kernel.org>,
	"jmorris@...ei.org" <jmorris@...ei.org>,
	"linux-security-module@...r.kernel.org" 
	<linux-security-module@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 00/12] One more attempt at useful kernel lockdown

On 09/10/2013 12:17 PM, David Lang wrote:
>>
>> In theory these blobs are traceable to a manufacturer. It's not really
>> an indication that it's "safe" more than it's an indication that it
>> hasn't been changed. But I haven't chased this very hard yet because
>> of below...
> 
> well, not if you are trying to defend against root breaking in to the
> machine.
> 

And we have at least some drivers where we even have the firmware in the
Linux kernel tree, and thus aren't opaque blobs at all.

I suspect we'll need, at some point, a way for vendors that aren't
already doing signatures on their firmware in a device-specific way to
do so in a kernel-supported way.  The easiest (in terms of getting
vendors to play along, not necessarily technically) might be a PGP
signature (either inline or standalone) and have the public key as part
of the driver?

	-hpa


--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/