Re: [GIT PULL] Load keys from signed PE binaries

Chris Friesen
2013-02-27T17:36:26Z

On 02/27/2013 09:24 AM, Theodore Ts'o wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 11:54:51AM -0500, Peter Jones wrote:
>> No, no, no. Quit saying nobody knows. We've got a pretty good idea -
>> we've got a contract with them, and it says they provide the signing
>> service, and under circumstances where the thing being signed is found
>> to enable malware that circumvents Secure Boot
>
> The question is what does "malware that circuments Secure Boot" mean?
> Does starting up a hacked KVM and running Windows 8 under KVM so that
> malare can be injected count as circumenting Secure Boot? If so, will
> you have to disable KVM, too?

I could see an argument for KVM to require either a signed binary or
else someone at the keyboard to explicitly okay loading the image.
Anything else breaks the chain of trust.

It may be somewhat far-fetched, but I think it would be possible to take
an existing secure-boot Win 8 install, turn it into a VM but with an
infected kernel. Then install a signed Linux distro that runs the Win8
VM as a guest.

At this point you've got a running infected Win8 install that is running
on Secure Boot hardware but is actually running malware.

Admittedly this would be tricky to do reliably in a way that the user
doesn't notice, so it may not actually be a real-world threat.

Chris