A minimal Linux that runs as a coreboot or LinuxBoot ROM payload to provide a secure, flexible boot environment for laptops, workstations and servers.
Go to file
Jonathon Hall ff1d606be6
bin/fetch_coreboot_crossgcc_archive.sh: ln -s again if link exists
Changes in things like modules/coreboot will check the coreboot
toolchain archives again.  We reuse the cached archive already, but the
final ln -s may fail if the link already exists.  Remove it first and
link again.

Signed-off-by: Jonathon Hall <jonathon.hall@puri.sm>
2024-01-10 13:26:55 -05:00
.circleci CircleCI : readd blobs cache in prep step to download once and pass through workspace cache 2024-01-04 14:21:10 -05:00
.github Create FUNDING.yml 2023-11-01 10:48:34 -04:00
bin bin/fetch_coreboot_crossgcc_archive.sh: ln -s again if link exists 2024-01-10 13:26:55 -05:00
blobs blobs/xx20/download_parse_me.sh: cleanup and don't continue if hash is good 2024-01-04 14:21:13 -05:00
boards hotp boards: enable autoboot after 5 seconds if reverse HOTP against USB Security Dongle is successful by default 2024-01-09 15:06:04 -05:00
branding/Heads Adapt NV41/NS50 changes, unify bootsplash file usage for branding 2023-11-20 09:40:52 -05:00
build porting Makefile to use a modular build system for each package 2016-08-02 19:25:47 -04:00
config coreboot-nitrokey: update dasharo to v1.7.2 2023-12-22 15:37:29 +01:00
initrd Merge pull request #1578 from JonathonHall-Purism/config-automatic-boot-delay 2024-01-09 15:12:03 -05:00
install ignore everything in install/ 2018-02-05 16:04:23 -05:00
modules gpg2: make sure dirmngr is not spawn to refresh keys under initrd/.gnupg/gpg.conf 2024-01-09 12:53:56 -05:00
packages ignore fetched files 2016-08-02 21:24:15 -04:00
patches modules/coreboot: Cache coreboot toolchain archives and use mirrors 2024-01-08 15:10:56 -05:00
targets xx20/xx30 blob based boards: move ME blobs target outside of board configs (targets/xx*_blobs.mk) 2024-01-04 15:32:09 -05:00
.gitattributes Add overrides for Makefile syntax highlighting 2023-01-18 11:51:38 -05:00
.gitignore librem_11: Add loadkeys (from kbd), optionally enabled 2023-09-29 15:29:19 -04:00
.gitlab-ci.yml.deprecated Merge pull request #867 from Tonux599/kgpe-d16_411_measured-boot 2020-12-02 18:23:55 -05:00
COPYING Add GPL license (issue #115) 2017-02-26 10:53:11 -05:00
FAQ.md TPM Disk Unlock Key sealing/renewal cleanup (Triggered automatically when resealing TOTP) 2023-08-30 18:06:29 -04:00
Makefile Makefile: Support mirrors for dependency source packages 2024-01-05 12:49:36 -05:00
README.md qemu: Deduplicate Qemu targets/documentation, extract from boards 2023-12-18 16:49:10 -05:00

Heads booting on an x230

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

make BOARD=board_name where board_name is the name of the board directory under ./boards directory.

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-make 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, Librem series and the Chell Chromebook. ** Xen does not work in QEMU. Signing, HOTP, and TOTP do work; see below.
  • 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

QEMU:

OS booting can be tested in QEMU using a software TPM. HOTP can be tested by forwarding a USB token from the host to the guest.

For more information and setup instructions, refer to the qemu documentation.

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.