#11682 NORM 1.75-fi: Corrupted bootfw files are fatal to secure boot; ecfw updates are not

Zarro Boogs per Child bugtracker at laptop.org
Mon Mar 12 19:20:29 EDT 2012


#11682: Corrupted bootfw files are fatal to secure boot; ecfw updates are not
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           Reporter:  greenfeld            |       Owner:  wmb at firmworks.com                
               Type:  defect               |      Status:  new                              
           Priority:  normal               |   Milestone:  1.75-firmware                    
          Component:  ofw - open firmware  |     Version:  Development build as of this date
         Resolution:                       |    Keywords:                                   
        Next_action:  review               |    Verified:  0                                
Deployment_affected:                       |   Blockedby:                                   
           Blocking:                       |  
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Comment(by wmb at firmworks.com):

 I don't have a strong opinion about how it should work - but I will offer
 the following argument in favor of refusing to boot:

 Suppose that a security vulnerability is found in OFW, that we wish to fix
 as part of an OS upgrade.  Corrupting the bootfw file could be an attack
 to prevent upgrading that OFW.

 One could just as easily argue that the denial of service attack is just
 as bad.

 That is the problem with security - it is anti-functionality, so it's hard
 to decide what is best.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/11682#comment:9>
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