Installing TrenchBoot in UEFI environments

UPDATE 18.01.2021: Step 14th of Trenchboot installation section has been extended with more straightforward instructions how to create GRUB entry for Secure Launch.

If you haven’t read previous blog posts about the TrenchBoot project, I encourage you to do so by discovering the TrenchBoot tag. We have presented our motivation, project’s overview concept, and goals there. If you want to keep up with project development, stay tuned, and always try to catch up with missed articles.

Those articles will not always be strictly technical. Therefore, if you think some topics should be elaborated, feel free to ask us a question.

In this article, I will explain how to install the NixOS on machines with UEFI firmware and how to install TrenchBoot. The most essential parts of the system will be also described in detail. It’s important to understand their role, so you will be able to reproduce the environment smoothly and consciously. For now TrenchBoot focuses only on early launch (the initial launch of operating system), but the late launch (relaunching the operating system with DRTM without physical reboot) is also on the roadmap. Find out more about DRTM in the TCG DRTM Architecture specification

Testing platform

As you already know, our solution is built for AMD processors. Therefore, for tests, we use suitable platforms. Our hardware infrastructure is still being expanded. Eventually, there will be a few more devices with different characteristics. For this particular article, we use Supermicro Super Server M11SDV-4C which has AMD EPYC 3151 processor. We use connection via serial port, so every relevant output will be presented in the form of logs. What is important, our platform is equipped with TPM module (aka dTPM) which is obligatory in this project. Make sure you have it on your platform too.

Operating system

To better understand the next section, first I will introduce an operating system which we use. Our choice is NixOS which is a Linux distribution based on unusual (but reliable) package management. You can install tools from official packages or build your ones. The second feature will be strongly utilized in the entire project.

Of course, you can use any other Linux distribution. However, every procedure will be carried out by us in NixOS. If you won’t have all dedicated tools and (supported and/or compatible) configuration, we can’t provide full reliability.

NixOS installation

Now, I will guide through the installation of NixOS. After it, you should have an operating system in a default configuration. Later, I will show you how to customize it at runtime.

Important: NixOS installation is not interactive as in most Linux distributions (e.g. Debian). Therefore, pay attention to typed commands and configurations!

  1. Download a minimal installer image from the website.

  2. Flash USB drive with the image.

  3. Insert the USB drive on the target platform and choose the proper boot option.

  4. In the boot menu press tab and add serial console parameters:

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    console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200

  5. Press enter and you will see following boot log:

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    ott//iinniittrrdd

early console in extract_kernel
input_data: 0x00000000023fc3b1
input_len: 0x0000000000404c90
output: 0x0000000001000000
output_len: 0x00000000017d8030
kernel_total_size: 0x000000000142c000
trampoline_32bit: 0x000000000009d000
booted via startup_32()
Physical KASLR using RDTSC...
Virtual KASLR using RDTSC...

Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF... Performing relocations... done.
Booting the kernel.
[    0.000000] Linux version 4.19.107 (nixbld@localhost) (gcc version 8.3.0 (GCC)) #1-NixOS SMP Fri Feb 28 15:39:01 UTC 2020
[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/bzImage init=/nix/store/ph9hjng3mwwsnnd20pq364fay8baqm6x-nixos-system-nixos-19.09.2201.7d31bbceaa1/init root=LABEL=NIXOS_ISO console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintkd
(...)

<<< NixOS Stage 1 >>>

loading module loop...
loading module vfat...
loading module nls_cp437...
loading module nls_iso8859-1...
loading module fuse...
loading module dm_mod...
running udev...
kbd_mode: KDSKBMODE: Inappropriate ioctl for device
Gstarting device mapper and LVM...
mounting tmpfs on /...
waiting for device /dev/root to appear...
mounting /dev/root on /iso...
mounting /mnt-root/iso/nix-store.squashfs on /nix/.ro-store...
mounting tmpfs on /nix/.rw-store...
mounting unionfs on /nix/store...

<<< NixOS Stage 2 >>>

running activation script...
setting up /etc...
unpacking the NixOS/Nixpkgs sources...
created 1 symlinks in user environment
ln: failed to create symbolic link '/root/.nix-defexpr/channels/channels': Read-only file system
starting systemd...

Welcome to NixOS 19.09.2201.7d31bbceaa1 (Loris)!

[  OK  ] Created slice system-getty.slice.
(...)
[  OK  ] Started Login Service.


<<< Welcome to NixOS 19.09.2201.7d31bbceaa1 (x86_64) - ttyS0 >>>
The "nixos" and "root" accounts have empty passwords.

Type `sudo systemctl start sshd` to start the SSH daemon.
You then must set a password for either "root" or "nixos"
with `passwd` to be able to log in.


Run `nixos-help` or press <Alt-F8> for the NixOS manual.

nixos login: nixos (automatic login)

  6. Create partitions for UEFI

    Be careful and choose the correct /dev/sdX device. In our case, it is sda, which is SSD disk.

    Create a GPT partition table

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    parted /dev/sda -- mklabel gpt

    Add the root partition. This will fill the disk except for the end part, where the swap will live and spare 512MiB for the boot partition.

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    parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary 512MiB -8GiB

    Add swap partition

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    parted /dev/sda -- mkpart primary linux-swap -8GiB 100%

    Add EFI System Partition (ESP)

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    parted /dev/sda -- mkpart ESP fat32 1MiB 512MiB
parted /dev/sda -- set 3 boot on

  7. Format partitions

    sda1

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    mkfs.ext4 -L nixos /dev/sda1

    sda2 (swap)

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    mkswap -L swap /dev/sda2

    sda3 (ESP)

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    mkfs.fat -F 32 -n boot /dev/sda3

  8. Mount partitions

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    mount /dev/disk/by-label/nixos /mnt
mkdir -p /mnt/boot
mount /dev/disk/by-label/boot /mnt/boot

  9. Generate initial configuration:

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    nixos-generate-config --root /mnt

    Above command will create configuration.nix file. It contains all default configuration options according to which NixOS will be installed.

  10. Change the bootloader settings in configuration.nix file.

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    boot.loader.systemd-boot = {
  enable = true;
  editor = false;
};
boot.loader.efi = {
  canTouchEfiVariables = true;
};
boot.loader.grub = {
  enable = true;
  copyKernels = true;
  efiInstallAsRemovable = false;
  efiSupport = true;
  fsIdentifier = "uuid";
  splashMode = "stretch";
  version = 2;
  device = "nodev";
  extraEntries = ''
    menuentry "Reboot" {
      reboot
    }
    menuentry "Poweroff" {
      halt
    }
  '';
};

  11. Add boot kernel parameters for serial connection:

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    boot.kernelParams = [ "console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200" ];

  12. Install NixOS based on config (it will take a few minutes)

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    nixos-install

  13. Set a password for root.

  14. Reboot OS. (Now you can remove installation media)

If the above procedure was successful, NixOS is installed in the default configuration. Boot to the system and play around to check if everything is correct. If yes, let’s move on to the TrenchBoot installation.

TrenchBoot installation

  1. Install cachix

    cachix is binary cache hosting. It allows to store binary files, so there is no need to build them on your own. If it is not very useful for small builds, it is very handy for large ones e.g. Linux kernel binary.

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    nix-env -iA cachix -f https://cachix.org/api/v1/install

  2. Add 3mdeb cachix hosting as default.

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    $ cachix use 3mdeb
Cachix configuration written to /etc/nixos/cachix.nix.
Binary cache 3mdeb configuration written to /etc/nixos/cachix/3mdeb.nix.

To start using cachix add the following to your /etc/nixos/configuration.nix:

    imports = [ ./cachix.nix ];

Then run:

    $ sudo nixos-rebuild switch

  3. Meet above requirement by editing /etc/nixos/configuration.nix.

    Probably vim editor is not available at this stage. Instead of vim, you can use nano.

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    $ nano /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
(...)
imports =
[ # Include the results of the hardware scan.
  ./hardware-configuration.nix
  ./cachix.nix
];
(...)

    Don’t rebuild NixOS yet. It will be done later.

  4. Install git package.

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    nix-env -iA nixos.git

  5. Clone 3mdeb/nixpkgs repository.

    3mdeb nixpkgs contains additional packages compared with default NixOS nixpkgs, so everything is in one place. Most of all, there are:

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    $ git clone https://github.com/3mdeb/nixpkgs.git -b trenchboot_support_2020.04
(...)
$ ls
nixpkgs

  6. Update (rebuild) NixOS.

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    sudo nixos-rebuild switch -I nixpkgs=~/nixpkgs

    IMPORTANT: -I nixpkgs=~/nixpkgs flag is necessary here! It replaces default nixpkgs with previously downloaded ones. Make sure the directory is valid (we have it in home (~)). If you follow our instruction step-by-step, you have it also there.

  7. Reboot platform.

    DRTM is not enabled yet! Boot to NixOS and finish the configuration.

  8. Clone 3mdeb/nixos-trenchboot-configs repository.

    This repository contains all necessary NixOS configuration files in ready-to-use form, so there is no need to edit them by hand at this moment.

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    git clone https://github.com/3mdeb/nixos-trenchboot-configs.git

    List nixos-trenchboot-configs folder.

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    $ cd nixos-trenchboot-configs/
$ ls
configuration-efi.nix  configuration.nix  linux-5.5.nix  MANUAL.md  nixpkgs  README.md  tb-config.nix

    Among the listed files, the most interesting one is configuration.nix. Customizing it saves time and work compared with tools and package manual installs. Manual work is good for small and fast builds. The more (and more significant) changes you want to do, the more efficient way is to re-build your NixOS system. That is done by editing configuration.nix file. As you already know, among others we want to rebuild Linux kernel, replace GRUB bootloader and install custom packages. That is why we decided to prepare a new config and re-install NixOS.

    Let’s take a closer look at its content. The entire file is rather large, so the output will be truncated and only essential parts/lines will be mentioned. In this post, we will use configuration-efi.nix since we have installed the NixOS in UEFI mode.

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    $ cat configuration-efi.nix

(...)
imports =
    [ # Include the results of the hardware scan.
      ./hardware-configuration.nix
      ./cachix.nix
      ./linux-5.5.nix
    ];

boot.loader.systemd-boot = {
  enable = true;
  editor = false;
};
# Automatically add boot entry to UEFI boot order.
boot.loader.efi = {
  canTouchEfiVariables = true;
};
boot.loader.grub = {
  enable = true;
  copyKernels = true;
  efiInstallAsRemovable = false;
  efiSupport = true;
  fsIdentifier = "uuid";
  splashMode = "stretch";
  version = 2;
  device = "nodev";
  extraEntries = ''
    menuentry "NixOS - Secure Launch" {
      --set=drive1 --fs-uuid 4881-6D27
      slaunch skinit
      slaunch_module ($drive1)/boot/lz_header
      linux ($drive1)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4
      initrd ($drive1)//kernels/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3-initrd

    }
    menuentry "Reboot" {
      reboot
    }
    menuentry "Poweroff" {
      halt
    }
  '';
};
boot.kernelParams = [ "console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0" ];

# OS utilities
environment.systemPackages = [
                              pkgs.pkg-config
                              pkgs.git
                              pkgs.gnumake
                              pkgs.autoconf
                              pkgs.automake
                              pkgs.gettext
                              pkgs.python
                              pkgs.m4
                              pkgs.libtool
                              pkgs.bison
                              pkgs.flex
                              pkgs.gcc
                              pkgs.gcc_multi
                              pkgs.libusb
                              pkgs.ncurses
                              pkgs.freetype
                              pkgs.qemu
                              pkgs.lvm2
                              pkgs.unifont
                              pkgs.fuse
                              pkgs.gnulib
                              pkgs.stdenv
                              pkgs.nasm
                              pkgs.binutils
                              pkgs.tpm2-tools
                              pkgs.tpm2-tss
                              pkgs.landing-zone
                              pkgs.landing-zone-debug
                              pkgs.grub-tb-efi
                              ];

# Grub override
nixpkgs.config.packageOverrides = pkgs: { grub2 = pkgs.grub-tb-efi; };

    Remarks:

    • we import cachix service and custom linux 5.5 kernel to be built;
    • adjust GRUB entries to boot slaunch and change directories of bzImage (Linux kernel) and initrd to custom ones;
    • add all necessary system packages (i.a. landing-zone, landing-zone-debug and grub-tb-efi);
    • override default GRUB package with custom one;

  9. Copy all configuration files to /etc/nixos/ directory and replace the configuration for EFI.

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    cp nixos-trenchboot-configs/*.nix /etc/nixos
cp nixos-trenchboot-configs/configuration-efi.nix /etc/nixos/configuration.nix

  10. Update (re-build) system.

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    $ sudo nixos-rebuild switch -I nixpkgs=~/nixpkgs
building Nix...
building the system configuration...

  11. Ensure that slaunch module is present in /boot/grub/i386-pc/ (or /boot/grub/x86_64-efi/ on 64bit GRUB EFI installation).

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    $ ls /boot/grub/x86_64-efi | grep slaunch
slaunch.mod

  12. Find the Landing Zone package in /nix/store/.

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    $ ls /nix/store/ | grep landing-zone
5a6kapnjxs8dj4jp49qagz1mw2r6hnr2-landing-zone-debug-0.3.0
l1b2h84fdw8g0m9aygmv8g3nhbnw9kic-landing-zone-debug-0.3.0.drv
lf763br9hm0ipp76k2p16iq75x3xpgrm-landing-zone-0.3.0
mnbh5xahlbzmfa50r60y5z4lph9rd41k-landing-zone-0.3.0.drv

    Package without -debug in its name and without .drv extension is what we are looking for.

  13. Copy lz_header.bin to /boot/ directory.

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    cp /nix/store/lf763br9hm0ipp76k2p16iq75x3xpgrm-landing-zone-0.3.0/lz_header.bin /boot/lz_header

  14. Check /boot/grub/grub.cfg file and its NixOS - Default menu entry. Adjust /etc/nixos/configuration.nix and its boot.loader.grub.extraEntries line to have exactly the same directories included.

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    $ cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
(...)
menuentry "NixOS - Default" {
search --set=drive1 --fs-uuid 4881-6D27
    linux ($drive1)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4
    initrd ($drive1)//kernels/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3-initrd
}
(...)

    The hashes in the /nix/store or /kernels may be different for your installation, especially initrd, that is why you should copy them from the NixOS - Default entry and apply to a new entry shown below.

    Just copy the Default entry, rename it to Secure Launch and add two lines before linux command:

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    slaunch skinit
slaunch_module ($drive1)//lz_header

    With grub.cfg content as above configuration.nix must have boot.loader.grub.extraEntries line like this:

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    $ cat /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
  (...)
  boot.loader.grub.extraEntries = ''
  menuentry "NixOS - Secure Launch" {
    search --set=drive1 --fs-uuid 4881-6D27
    slaunch skinit
    slaunch_module ($drive1)//lz_header
    linux ($drive1)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4
    initrd ($drive1)//kernels/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3-initrd
  }
'';

    If there are differences in any of search --set=drive1..., linux ($drive1)/nix/store... or lines, edit configuration.nix content and copy those lines from grub.cfg menuentry "NixOS - Default". They must be exactly the same.

  15. Update the system for the last time.

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    sudo nixos-rebuild switch -I nixpkgs=~/nixpkgs

  16. Reboot platform.

During platform booting, in GRUB menu there should be at least "NixOS - Default" and "NixOS - Secure Launch" entries. First entry boots platform without DRTM. Second entry executes DRTM! Choose the second entry and see if platform boots successfully. If yes, you have a secure platform with DRTM enabled.

Validation

You can still be suspicious if it really works. And rightly so. In this section, I will show you, how to verify each component of the system to make you sure about its correctness. Also, I will present how we met the second stage project’s requirements.

GRUB

There are two ways to validate if GRUB will load slaunch module and hence run SKINIT and LZ (DRTM).

Verify content of grub.cfg file

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$ cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
menuentry "NixOS - Default" {
search --set=drive1 --fs-uuid 4881-6D27
  linux ($drive1)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4
  initrd ($drive1)//kernels/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3-initrd
}

menuentry "NixOS - Secure Launch" {
  search --set=drive1 --fs-uuid 4881-6D27
  slaunch skinit
  slaunch_module ($drive1)//lz_header
  linux ($drive1)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4
  initrd ($drive1)//kernels/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3-initrd
}

In “NixOS - Secure Launch” entry there must be slaunch skinit entry and slaunch_module ($drive1)//lz_header which points to LZ.

Compare bootlog with DRTM and without DRTM

  1. Reboot platform. In GRUB menu choose "NixOS - Default" entry (without DRTM).

    Collect logs during boot to be able to verify them. Using dmesg command in NixOS doesn’t work because it doesn’t show pre-kernel stage logs! The correct boot log is shown below.

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    early console in extract_kernel
input_data: 0x00000000041fd3b1
input_len: 0x000000000045e254
output: 0x0000000002c00000
output_len: 0x0000000001a301c0
kernel_total_size: 0x000000000182c000
needed_size: 0x0000000001c00000
trampoline_32bit: 0x000000000009d000
booted via startup_32()
Physical KASLR using RDRAND RDTSC...
Virtual KASLR using RDRAND RDTSC...

Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF... Performing relocations... done.
Booting the kernel.
[    0.000000] Linux version 5.5.3 (nixbld@localhost) (gcc version 9.2.0 (GCC)) #1-NixOS SMP Thu Jan 1 00:00:01 UTC 1970
(...)

<<< Welcome to NixOS 20.09.git.c156a866dd7M (x86_64) - ttyS0 >>>

Run 'nixos-help' for the NixOS manual.

    Verification: As expected, the bootloader executes Linux kernel directly. Platform booted without DRTM then.

  2. Reboot platform once again. In GRUB menu choose "NixOS - Secure Launch" entry.

    Once again, collect logs during boot to be able to verify them. Using dmesg command in NixOS doesn’t work, as in the previous case. The correct boot log is shown below.

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    early console in extract_kernel
input_data: 0x00000000041fd3b1
input_len: 0x000000000045e254
output: 0x0000000002c00000
output_len: 0x0000000001a301c0
kernel_total_size: 0x000000000182c000
needed_size: 0x0000000001c00000
trampoline_32bit: 0x000000000009d000
booted via startup_32()
Physical KASLR using RDRAND RDTSC...
Virtual KASLR using RDRAND RDTSC...

Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF... Performing relocations... done.
Booting the kernel.
[    0.000000] Linux version 5.5.3 (nixbld@localhost) (gcc version 9.2.0 (GCC)) #1-NixOS SMP Thu Jan 1 00:00:01 UTC 1970
[    0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=(hd1,gpt3)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/bxjlwx3dcjg8jjvd6792fdjwnw1idgfg-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/bxjlwx3dcjg8jjvd6792fdjwnw1idgfg-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4

(...)

<<< Welcome to NixOS 20.09.git.a070e686875 (x86_64) - ttyS0 >>>

Run 'nixos-help' for the NixOS manual.

    Verification: As expected, before the Linux kernel, there should be slaunch module executed. It proves that DRTM is enabled. There is no information about LZ execution because it is a non-debug version.

Landing Zone

Actually, there are a few aspects that can be verified in LZ. We will focus on those two:

  • check if LZ utilizes the SHA256 algorithm when using TPM2.0 module
  • check if LZ debug option can be enabled

check if LZ utilizes SHA256 algorithm when using TPM2.0 module

  1. If not already booted to "NixOS - Secure Launch", reboot platform, and boot to NixOS via "NixOS - Secure Launch" entry in GRUB menu.

  2. Run tpm2_pcrread command.

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    $ tpm2_pcrread
sha1:
  0 : 0x122896C747F64CE4E9081BBF36513BB26C7D7841
  1 : 0xFF0B4D5E2B550AB4C56E27C69DEF49AA933B9722
  2 : 0xB2A83B0EBF2F8374299A5B2BDFC31EA955AD7236
  3 : 0xB2A83B0EBF2F8374299A5B2BDFC31EA955AD7236
  4 : 0x8E15F45C1AC99950850949C3D2D425B8A59EE2AC
  5 : 0x81DCF5ED6034C0BE3F992869AD1F78BA713A8548
  6 : 0xB2A83B0EBF2F8374299A5B2BDFC31EA955AD7236
  7 : 0x4037336FA7BC0EABE3778FCFFF5FCD0EE6ADCDE3
  8 : 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  9 : 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  10: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  11: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  12: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  13: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  14: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  15: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  16: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  17: 0x00883227E275C12E1FAD0024133C1F71D8BA699A
  18: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  19: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  20: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  21: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  22: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  23: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
sha256:
  0 : 0xF831C72F6C06F0196169E9B13F76B93B01316761142C98E2BF7AF2B069970A03
  1 : 0xFFE279C00FAC3B552E88E24EF5CB6D456DB19CE13D9F8A8EB848E94E01791347
  2 : 0x3D458CFE55CC03EA1F443F1562BEEC8DF51C75E14A9FCF9A7234A13F198E7969
  3 : 0x3D458CFE55CC03EA1F443F1562BEEC8DF51C75E14A9FCF9A7234A13F198E7969
  4 : 0x5155731E9498F6BA0AF9CBFA785AE5C107809745C51FB98ED01DF1E283FE25CD
  5 : 0x701DC6CA7B80B2C6BC2E563ED34BD06E8ABDE913A7E69C56D0BB2323D65C7371
  6 : 0x3D458CFE55CC03EA1F443F1562BEEC8DF51C75E14A9FCF9A7234A13F198E7969
  7 : 0xB5710BF57D25623E4019027DA116821FA99F5C81E9E38B87671CC574F9281439
  8 : 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  9 : 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  10: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  11: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  12: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  13: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  14: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  15: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  16: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  17: 0x21D3D024420A4149A3A226D39331A3A69E434200EE2D1C56FB02F3B982DC97B2
  18: 0xF60CE5BD1FBA080302211F6FAD660374B82DE4AEC102369764E411461C7B71E6
  19: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  20: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  21: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  22: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  23: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

  3. Run extend_all.sh script from landing-zone package.

    This script simulates what should be extended into PCR17 by SKINIT, LZ and kernel during platform booting. It extends both SHA256 and SHA1 values. However, the expected result is valid only for SHA256 if used with TPM2.0 device.

    To properly execute script, first find correct directory to bzImage and initrd. Best way to find exact directories is to see "NixOS - Secure Launch" entry in /boot/grub/grub.cfg:

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    $ cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg
(...)
menuentry "NixOS - Secure Launch" {
  search --set=drive1 --fs-uuid 4881-6D27
  slaunch skinit
  slaunch_module ($drive1)//lz_header
  linux ($drive1)//kernels/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3-bzImage systemConfig=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M init=/nix/store/ci38is4cvjlz528jay66h7qpqr6ws22n-nixos-system-nixos-20.09.git.c156a866dd7M/init console=ttyS0,115200 earlyprintk=serial,ttyS0,115200 console=tty0 loglevel=4
  initrd ($drive1)//kernels/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3-initrd
}
(...)

    /nix/store/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3/bzImage is directory to Linux kernel. /nix/store/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3/initrd is directory to initrd.

  4. Go to /nix/store/ and run below command:

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    $ cd /nix/store
$ ls | grep landing-zone
5a6kapnjxs8dj4jp49qagz1mw2r6hnr2-landing-zone-debug-0.3.0
l1b2h84fdw8g0m9aygmv8g3nhbnw9kic-landing-zone-debug-0.3.0.drv
lf763br9hm0ipp76k2p16iq75x3xpgrm-landing-zone-0.3.0
mnbh5xahlbzmfa50r60y5z4lph9rd41k-landing-zone-0.3.0.drv

    Hash before -landing-zone-0.3.0 is dependent on built version and might be different in yours. Choose non-debug version from above results.

  5. Go to /nix/store/lf763br9hm0ipp76k2p16iq75x3xpgrm-landing-zone-0.3.0 directory.

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    cd /nix/store/lf763br9hm0ipp76k2p16iq75x3xpgrm-landing-zone-0.3.0

  6. Execute ./extend_all.sh script.

    Usage is ./extend_all.sh <directory-to-bzImage> <directory-to-initrd>

    It must be executed inside the directory containing currently used (debug or non-debug) version of lz_header.bin. You should already be in this directory after the previous step. Directories to bzImage and initrd we found in step 3.

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    ./extend_all.sh /nix/store/3w98shnz1a6nxpqn2wwn728mr12dy3kz-linux-5.5.3/bzImage /nix/store/k1x969q4mwj59hyq3hn2mcxck8s2410a-initrd-linux-5.5.3/initrd
ff4562570be624792d7cc1ae8dcb8a2c9d978cfd  SHA1
21d3d024420a4149a3a226d39331a3a69e434200ee2d1c56fb02f3b982dc97b2  SHA256

    Compare SHA256 value with PCR17 content checked previously with tpm2_pcrread output. If DRTM is enabled and executes properly, they should be the same. It proves that the LZ code utilizes the SHA256 algorithm during measurements.

Summary

As we mentioned earlier, we are introducing new platforms according to the project’s development. Moreover, in this blog post, we have shown how to enable DRTM in the UEFI environment as well. It proves that this solution is not only dedicated to a narrow group of devices, but can be a common tool for many more. Therefore, keep following our work and project’s progress and feel free to experiment with your hardware too!

If you think we can help in improving the security of your firmware or you looking for someone who can boost your product by leveraging advanced features of the used hardware platform, feel free to book a call with us or drop us email to contact<at>3mdeb<dot>com. If you are interested in similar content feel free to sign up for our newsletter

Michał Żygowski
Firmware Engineer with networking background. Feels comfortable with low-level development using C/C++ and assembly. Interested in advanced hardware features, security and coreboot. Core developer of coreboot. Maintainer of Braswell SoC, PC Engines, Protectli and Libretrend platforms.

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