freedomofpress / freedomofpress/kernel-builder

Secureboot support for grsecurity kernel

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Dominant language
Python
Stars
5
Forks
3
PR merge metrics
No merged PRs in 30d

Description

Description

Initially reported by https://forum.securedrop.org/t/running-handler-common-reboot-if-rquired-due-to-security-updates/1397/1:

Some hardware now ships with secureboot enabled by default, and we are currently advising disabling secureboot in the BIOS to ensure our custom kernels can boot in [1] .

We should consider signing our kernels and initram as described in [2] and ensuring the integrity of the kernel is validated prior to boot. This will require shim-signed, where we can sign the kernels at build time and enroll keys on the servers during the install process.

[1] https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop-docs/pull/158
[2] https://gloveboxes.github.io/Ubuntu-for-Azure-Developers/docs/signing-kernel-for-secure-boot.html

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Read the linked Ubuntu-for-Azure-Developers guide and securedrop-docs PR first, then map how shim-signed, kernel signing, and key enrollment would fit the existing build and install process. Done means custom kernels and initramfs can boot with Secure Boot enabled and their integrity is validated before boot.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
linux, ubuntu
Domain
build-system, operating-systems, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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