Re: [RFC] Boot parameters and geometrical stability

[phcoder <phcoder@gmail.com>]

Robert Millan wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 11:50:33AM +0200, phcoder wrote:
>> Hello, all.
>> Now when core image can be booted by multiple sources perhaps it would
>> be a good idea to recieve some boot arguments in case boot method (e.g.
>> multiboot) supports it. Probably the best way is to recieve pairs
>> <name,value> which can be easily imported to environment.
> 
> I assume you talk about GRUB loading itself;  what kind of information would
> you pass from one GRUB to the other?
Boot device, configuration file, parameters for scripts. But much more
useful this is for network boot. In this case GRUB can recieve server
info in boot parameters so when this info changes there is no need to
regenerate grub images.
> 
>> but this comprises a
>> security risk in case an attacker can plug a device (cdrom, floppy,
>> USB-memory,..) containing a partition with the same UUID. What do you
>> think about it
> 
> I think people who want this level of security (i.e. local media is not
> trusted) should use crypto checksums to verify they're loading what they
> expected, with or without UUIDs.
> 
I was thinking about the scenario when ide drives are trusted but not
USB or removable devices. Cryptographic checksums wouldn't bring much
because if attacker can modify harddrive he can also modify GRUB to skip
 checksum check.
Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko