102 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
4.8 KiB
Markdown
# Lanzaboote: Secure Boot for NixOS
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[](https://matrix.to/#/#nixos-secure-boot:ukvly.org)
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[](https://www.rust-lang.org/)
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This repository contains tooling for [UEFI Secure
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Boot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFI#Secure_Boot) on
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[NixOS](https://nixos.org/). The goal is to make Secure Boot available
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from [nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs) for any platform that
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supports UEFI.
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## ⚡ Quickstart ⚡
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If you want to try this out, head over [here](./docs/QUICK_START) for
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instructions.
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## 🪛 Get Involved 🪛
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There is still a bunch of work to do before this work can be
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upstreamed into [nixpkgs](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs). Please
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coordinate in the [Matrix
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room](https://matrix.to/#/#nixos-secure-boot:ukvly.org) or check the
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[issues](https://github.com/nix-community/lanzaboote/issues), if you
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want to take something up.
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## Overview
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### Secure Boot
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The goal of UEFI Secure Boot is to allow only trusted operating
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systems to boot on a system. This can be used to defend against
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certain classes of attacks that compromise the boot flow of a
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system. For example, an attacker will have difficulty replacing the
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Linux kernel that boots a system when Secure Boot is active.
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UEFI Secure Boot works by digitally signing all drivers, bootloaders,
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the Linux kernel and its initrd. This establishes a chain of trust
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where one trusted component only hands off control to the next part of
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the boot flow when the integrity of the chain is cryptographically
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validated.
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### Caveats
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There are some additional steps that are required to make UEFI Secure
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Boot effective:
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- There must be a BIOS password or a similar restriction that prevents
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unauthorized changes to the Secure Boot policy.
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- The booted system must have some form of integrity protection.
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- The firmware must be kept up-to-date.
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These steps will not be covered here.
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### Lanzatool
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At the moment, boot loaders, kernels and initrds on NixOS are signed
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on the current system. These then need to be prepared as [Unified
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Kernel Images
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(UKI)](https://uapi-group.org/specifications/specs/boot_loader_specification/#type-2-efi-unified-kernel-images) and placed on the [EFI System Partition (ESP)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EFI_system_partition).
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`lanzatool` is a Linux command line application that takes care of
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this flow. It takes a [NixOS
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bootspec](https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/pull/125) document, signs the
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relevant files, creates a UKI using lanzaboote (see below) and
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installs the UKI along with other required files to the
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ESP. `lanzatool` is also aware of multiple NixOS genertions and will
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sign all configurations that should be bootable.
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### Lanzaboote
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When the Linux kernel and initrd are packed into a UKI, they need an
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UEFI application stub. This role is typically filled by
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[`systemd-stub`](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/systemd-stub.html).
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The downside of `systemd-stub` is that it requires the kernel and
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initrd to be packed into the UKI, which makes it pretty large. As we
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need one UKI per NixOS configuration, systems with many configurations
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quickly run out of the limited disk space in the ESP.
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`lanzaboote` is a UEFI stub that solves the same problem as
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`systemd-stub`, but allows kernel and initrd to be stored separately
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on the ESP. The chain of trust is maintained by validating the
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signature on the Linux kernel and embedding a cryptographic hash of
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the initrd into the signed UKI.
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`lanzaboote` lives in `rust/lanzaboote`.
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## State of Upstreaming to Nixpkgs
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Secure Boot is available as an Nixpkgs out-of-tree feature using the
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[bootspec feature preview](https://github.com/NixOS/rfcs/pull/125). It
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works with current nixpkgs-unstable.
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## Funding
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<pre><img alt="Logo of NLnet Foundation" src="https://nlnet.nl/logo/banner-bw.svg" width="320px" height="120px" /> <img alt="Logo of NGI Assure" src="https://nlnet.nl/image/logos/NGIAssure_tag_black_mono.svg" width="320px" height="120px" /></pre>
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[This project](https://nlnet.nl/project/NixOS-UEFI/) was funded through the [NGI Assure](https://nlnet.nl/assure) Fund, a fund established by [NLnet](https://nlnet.nl/) with financial support from the European Commission's [Next Generation Internet](https://ngi.eu/) programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology under grant agreement No 957073. **Applications are still open, you can [apply today](https://nlnet.nl/propose)**.
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If your organization wants to support the project with extra funding in order to add support for more architectures, PKCS#11 workflows or integration, please contact one of the maintainers.
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