A minimal Linux that runs as a coreboot or LinuxBoot ROM payload to provide a secure, flexible boot environment for laptops, workstations and servers.
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Kyle Rankin 018279b2bf
Add ability to enter custom password for OEM reset
Normally we resort to default passwords for OEM reset, however we have a
use case where it would be convenient to set a custom password instead.
This patch adds a simple prompt (that defaults to the defaults if you
hit Enter) that enables someone using the OEM reset to enter a single
password that will replace the defaults (TPM, GPG Admin, GPG User).
2019-11-18 11:31:55 -06:00
.circleci fix config spacing and path to xgcc 2018-09-18 16:04:28 -04:00
bin clean all cpio files and ensure that they are all padded 2018-03-15 11:46:42 -04:00
blobs blobs/librem_*: update CPU microcode 2019-11-18 11:10:15 -06:00
boards Merge branch 'msrtools' 2019-08-11 17:05:55 +02:00
build porting Makefile to use a modular build system for each package 2016-08-02 19:25:47 -04:00
config config/linux-x230: remove debug symbols 2019-05-20 13:47:20 +02:00
initrd Add ability to enter custom password for OEM reset 2019-11-18 11:31:55 -06:00
install ignore everything in install/ 2018-02-05 16:04:23 -05:00
modules add Intel msrtools commands 2019-07-30 15:36:57 +02:00
packages ignore fetched files 2016-08-02 21:24:15 -04:00
patches musl-cross: update patch for recent git commits () 2019-10-29 12:52:55 +01:00
.gitignore fix install directory handling for git and builds 2018-11-23 12:29:08 -05:00
COPYING Add GPL license (issue ) 2017-02-26 10:53:11 -05:00
FAQ.md FAQ: Fix spelling of *convenience* 2018-08-09 23:37:18 +02:00
Makefile add Intel msrtools commands 2019-07-30 15:36:57 +02:00
README.md Strip README.md of outdated instructions 2019-05-21 13:23:59 -04:00

Heads boot ROM motd

Heads: the other side of TAILS

Heads is a configuration for laptops and servers that tries to bring more security to commodity hardware. Among its goals are:

  • Use free software on the boot path
  • Move the root of trust into hardware (or at least the ROM bootblock)
  • Measure and attest to the state of the firmware
  • Measure and verify all filesystems

Flashing Heads into the boot ROM

NOTE: It is a work in progress and not yet ready for non-technical users. If you're interested in contributing, please get in touch. Installation requires disassembly of your laptop or server, external SPI flash programmers, possible risk of destruction and significant frustration.

More information is available in the 33C3 presentation of building "Slightly more secure systems".

Documentation

Please refer to Heads-wiki for your Heads' documentation needs.

Building heads

In order to build reproducible firmware images, Heads builds a specific version of gcc and uses it to compile the Linux kernel and various tools that go into the initrd. Unfortunately this means the first step is a little slow since it will clone the musl-cross tree and build gcc...

Once that is done, the top level Makefile will handle most of the remaining details -- it downloads the various packages, verifies the hashes, applies Heads specific patches, configures and builds them with the cross compiler, and then copies the necessary parts into the initrd directory.

There are still dependencies on the build system's coreutils in /bin and /usr/bin/, but any problems should be detectable if you end up with a different hash than the official builds.

The various components that are downloaded are in the ./modules directory and include:

We also recommend installing Qubes OS, although there Heads can kexec into any Linux or multiboot kernel.

Notes:

  • Building coreboot's cross compilers can take a while. Luckily this is only done once.
  • Builds are finally reproducible! The reproduciblebuilds tag tracks any regressions.
  • Currently only tested in QEMU, the Thinkpad x230 and the Chell Chromebook. ** Xen and the TPM do not work in QEMU, so it is only for testing the initrd image.
  • Building for the Lenovo X220 requires binary blobs to be placed in the blobs/x220/ folder. See the readme.md file in that folder
  • Building for the Librem 13 v2/v3 or Librem 15 v3/v4 requires binary blobs to be placed in the blobs/librem_skl folder. See the readme.md file in that folder

coreboot console messages

The coreboot console messages are stored in the CBMEM region and can be read by the Linux payload with the cbmem --console | less command. There is lots of interesting data about the state of the system.