heads/targets/qemu.md

qemu-coreboot-(fb)whiptail-tpmX(-hotp) boards

The qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp configuration (and their variants) permits testing of most features of Heads.
It requires a supported USB token (which will be reset for use with the VM, do not use a token needed for a real machine). With KVM acceleration, speed is comparable to a real machine. If KVM is unavailable, lightweight desktops are still usable.

Heads is currently unable to reflash firmware within qemu, which means that OEM reset and re-ownership cannot be fully performed within the VM. Instead, a GPG key can be injected in the Heads image from the host during the build.

The TPM and disks for this configuration are persisted in the build/qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp/ directory by default.

Bootstrapping a working system

1. Install QEMU and swtpm. (Optionally, KVM.)
   • Many distributions already package swtpm, but Debian Bullseye does not. (Bookworm does.) On Bullseye you will have to build and install libtpms and swtpm from source, see below for detailed instructions.
     • https://github.com/stefanberger/libtpms
     • https://github.com/stefanberger/swtpm
2. Build Heads
   • make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp
3. Install OS
   • make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp INSTALL_IMG=<path_to_installer.iso> run
   • Lightweight desktops (XFCE, LXDE, etc.) are recommended, especially if KVM acceleration is not available (such nested in Qubes OS)
   • When running nested in a qube, disable memory ballooning for the qube, or performance will be very poor.
   • Include QEMU_MEMORY_SIZE=6G to set the guest's memory (6G, 8G, etc.). The default is 4G to be conservative, but more may be needed depending on the guest OS.
   • Include QEMU_DISK_SIZE=30G to set the guest's disk size, the default is 20G.
4. Shut down and boot Heads with the USB token attached, proceed with OEM reset
   • make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp USB_TOKEN=<token> run
   • For <token>, use one of:
     • NitrokeyPro - a Nitrokey Pro by VID/PID
     • NitrokeyStorage - a Nitrokey Storage by VID/PID
     • Nitrokey3NFC - a Nitrokey 3 by VID:PID
     • LibremKey - a Librem Key by VID/PID
     • hostbus=#,hostport=# - indicate a host bus and port (see qemu usb-host)
     • vendorid=#,productid=# - indicate a device by VID/PID (decimal, see qemu usb-host)
   • You do need to export the GPG key to a USB disk, otherwise defaults are fine.
   • Head will show an error saying it can't flash the firmware, continue
   • Then Heads will indicate that there is no TOTP code yet, at this point shut down (Continue to main menu -> Power off)
5. Get the public key that was saved to the virtual USB flash drive
   • sudo mkdir /media/fd_heads_gpg
   • sudo losetup --find --partscan ./build/x86/qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp/usb_fd.raw
   • sudo mount /dev/loop0p2 /media/fd_heads_gpg to mount the second partition (public) or if only one partition, /dev/loop0p1
   • Look in /media/fd_heads_gpg and copy the most recent public key
   • sudo umount /media/fd_heads_gpg
   • sudo losetup --detach /dev/loop0
6. Inject the GPG key into the Heads image and run again
   • make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp PUBKEY_ASC=<path_to_key.asc> inject_gpg
   • make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp USB_TOKEN=LibremKey PUBKEY_ASC=<path_to_key.asc> run
7. Initialize the TPM - select "Reset the TPM" at the TOTP error prompt and follow prompts
8. Select "Default boot" and follow prompts to sign /boot for the first time and set a default boot option

You can reuse an already created ROOT_DISK_IMG by passing its path at runtime. Ex: make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1 PUBKEY_ASC=~/pub_key_counterpart_of_usb_dongle.asc USB_TOKEN=NitrokeyStorage ROOT_DISK_IMG=~/heads/build/x86/qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp/root.qcow2 run

On a daily development cycle, usage looks like:

1. make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1 PUBKEY_ASC=~/pub_key_counterpart_of_usb_dongle.asc USB_TOKEN=NitrokeyStorage ROOT_DISK_IMG=~/heads/build/x86/qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp/root.qcow2 inject_gpg
2. make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1 PUBKEY_ASC=~/pub_key_counterpart_of_usb_dongle.asc USB_TOKEN=NitrokeyStorage ROOT_DISK_IMG=~/heads/build/x86/qemu-coreboot-fbwhiptail-tpm1-hotp/root.qcow2 run

The first command builds latest uncommited/unsigned changes and injects the public key inside of the rom to be ran by the second command. To test across all qemu variants, one only has to change BOARD name and run the two previous commands, adapting QEMU_MEMORY_SIZE=1G or modifying the file directly under build dir to adapt to host resources.

swtpm on Debian Bullseye

libtpms and swtpm must be built and installed from source on Debian Bullseye. Upstream provides tooling to build these as Debian packages, which allows things to work seamlessly with default AppArmor configs, etc.

1. Install dependencies
   • sudo apt install automake autoconf libtool make gcc libc-dev libssl-dev dh-autoreconf libssl-dev libtasn1-6-dev pkg-config net-tools iproute2 libjson-glib-dev libgnutls28-dev expect gawk socat gnutls-bin libseccomp-dev libfuse-dev python3-twisted selinux-policy-dev trousers devscripts equivs
2. Build libtpms
   • git clone https://github.com/stefanberger/libtpms
   • cd libtpms; git checkout v0.9.4 (latest release as of this writing)
   • sudo mk-build-deps --install ./debian/control
   • debuild -us -uc
   • sudo apt install ../libtpms*.deb
3. Build swtpm
   • git clone https://github.com/stefanberger/swtpm
   • cd swtpm; git checkout v0.7.3 (latest release as of this writing)
   • echo "libtpms0 libtpms" > ./debian/shlibs.local
   • sudo mk-build-deps --install ./debian/control
   • debuild -us -uc
   • sudo apt install ../swtpm*.deb

swtpm on Debian bookworm

1. Install dependencies
   • sudo apt install swtpm swtpm-tools

swtpm on nix docker image

Nothing to do. Everything needed is in the docker image.

Just make sure to pass DISPLAY environement variable on your docker command line. eg:

• Remotely downloaded docker image (doing make command only inside of docker example):
  • docker run -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY --network host --rm -ti -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd) tlaurion/heads-dev-env:latest -- make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-whiptail-tpm2
  • docker run -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY --network host --rm -ti -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd) tlaurion/heads-dev-env:latest -- make BOARD=qemu-coreboot-whiptail-tpm2 run
• Locally created docker image from nix develop environment (jumping into docker image variation of the above, where developer does what he wants within):
  • docker run -e DISPLAY=$DISPLAY --network host --rm -ti -v $(pwd):$(pwd) -w $(pwd) linuxboot/heads:dev-env