linuxboot / linuxboot/heads

RFC : Follow up to PGP auth: what should be blocked

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Description

Work is getting near merging state under https://github.com/linuxboot/heads/pull/2158

A user could still flash an evil-maid firmware unauthenticated to bypass authentication.

Up to now (before authentication keys being able to be restored on new smartcard received when lost) per https://github.com/linuxboot/heads/pull/2158

So attack surface is now:
- got to system info, capture commit id of good firmware
- flash new evil maid firmware
- not reseal secrets, got to recovery shell
- backup firmware, giving keyring, trustdb and config.user override
- create havoc if needed (DoS: wipe os install)
- create reproducible build for known good commit, reflash that rom
- on reboot, totp/hotp good, but havoc created

What do we want here? prevent flashing when user has gpg priv key backup (so lost usb dongle is not bricking access?) or should we stay more liberal vs more secured? @JonathonHall-Purism @nestire ?

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 pull request #2158 and tracing the attack sequence described here, especially unauthenticated firmware flashing and recovery-shell access. The issue needs a decision on whether backups of the GPG private key should block flashing or remain allowed; done means the authentication policy and resulting blocked actions are agreed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

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

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