linuxboot / linuxboot/heads

mitigate relay attacks

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#1,881 6 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
Makefile
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Avg merge
4d 21h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

**Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.**

Quote https://tech.michaelaltfield.net/2023/02/16/evil-maid-heads-pureboot/

> Relay attack
>
> While the TOTP solution cleverly solves the replay attack, it’s still vulnerable to a relay attack.
>
> An attacker could steal your laptop and leave behind an identical-looking malicious laptop. When you (unknowingly) boot the malicious relay laptop, it communicates out to your real laptop — which relays the 6-digit OTP code down to the malicious laptop. You verify that the 6-digit OTP is correct and type your FDE decryption password — which is relayed out to the attacker with your real laptop.

**Describe the solution you'd like**

> a high-speed device, connected via a serial or perhaps USB interface, to manage authentication. This device can send an authentication challenge, receive a response, measure its timing, and verify it. If the response is both valid and received quickly enough, we can trust that the device and its firmware are authentic.

**Describe alternatives you've considered**

* FlashKeeper
* CPU features
* many more

**Additional context**

See also [Firmware authentication, avoiding relay attacks](https://www.kicksecure.com/wiki/Verified_Boot#Firmware_authentication.2C_avoiding_relay_attacks), where relay attacks are described in detail as well as potential solutions. (Written by @ArrayBolt3 with minor edits by myself.)

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

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

Start by reading the linked Firmware authentication page and the referenced relay-attack article, then review the proposed serial or USB challenge-response approach and listed alternatives. No implementation files, tests, or entry points are named; done would require a defined, accepted design for mitigating relay attacks in Heads.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
authentication, operating-systems, security
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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