1 files changed, 63 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/_posts/2024-05-13-secure-boot-experiments.md b/_posts/2024-05-13-secure-boot-experiments.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d58aa3a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2024-05-13-secure-boot-experiments.md
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: Secure Boot Experiments
+date: 2024-05-13 20:00 +0200
+lang: "en"
+categories: "tech"
+---
+
+So, since I was bored recently, I somehow wanted to experiment with Secure Boot.
+I didn't enable it when I bought my PC 10-ish years ago, not did I ever enable
+it for any of the Linux Distributions I tried out. So why now? Dunno, I was
+curious how well it works. So, this was mostly a "I have no idea what I'm doing,
+let's see what happens" thing.
+
+For most of the stuff, including basics, you wanna look at the references below.
+So, I guess this blog article is mostly a "things I stumbled upon / got confused
+about" list.
+
+- Assumption:
+  Enabling Secure Boot only makes sense if you also set a formerly "BIOS
+  password" / protect the firmware setup with a password, otherwise someone with
+  physical access to the machine could simply disable secure boot again? And even
+  then… Surely there are ways to reset the settings including the password, in
+  case you forget it? Wouldn't secure boot be disabled by this, allowing an
+  attacker to boot arbitrary stuff? (Well yes, but an attacker with physical
+  access to the machine is not what SB was designed for, it's for protecting
+  against root kits. -- Correct me if I'm wrong here).
+- How do all these keys relate to each other, and what is the MOK? (See
+  references below).
+- Enabling Secure Boot in UEFI. What the heck is Custom or Standard key
+  management? (Custom allows you to add your own keys? Or does it only influence
+  the default keys? Your UEFI may vary.)
+- What does "Secure Boot disabled / Setup mode" mean? (It means the keys needed
+  for SB are not set up yet)
+- Following the Arch Wiki article: Why the heck could I update the DB key
+  database using `efi-updatevar -a -c MS2.cer -k ../KEK/KEK.key  -g "$(<
+  ../myGUID.txt)" db` without entering the keys passphrase? (I was in setup
+  mode. EFI variables in regard to SB keys can be written freely).
+- Why am I getting "Invalid Signature" by my UEFI, even though the binary is
+  signed? (Either my UEFI implementation is broken, or this never works: The EFI
+  binary had two signatures, I only added my signature to the Linux signature,
+  instead of replacing it. Replacing works!)
+- Why does stub complain about "0x1A Security Violation"? I clearly signed the
+  binary with the MOK key? (The rEFInd binary didn't have an .sbat section - the
+  Debian package is too old).
+- Does Debian actually auto-enroll the DKMS signing key into the MOK? If so,
+  how? I thought this requires entering a password? (I *would guess* Debian does
+  not auto-enroll, because it needs a password).
+- Where does shim actually store "accepted" MOK keys? (I *think* in the
+  efivars?).
+- Why does shim use a light grey font on a light blue background? This is
+  unreadable! (No idea).
+
+## References
+
+- [Secure Boot on Debian Wiki](https://wiki.debian.org/SecureBoot)
+- ["Switching on Secure Boot in Debian" on blog.lazy-evaluation.net](https://blog.lazy-evaluation.net/posts/linux/switching-to-secureboot.html)
+- [Secure Boot on Arch Wiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface/Secure_Boot)
+- ["The meaning of all the UEFI keys" on blog.hansenpartnership.com](https://blog.hansenpartnership.com/the-meaning-of-all-the-uefi-keys/)
+- ["Managing Secure Boot" in rEFInd docs](https://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/secureboot.html)
+- ["Controlling Secure Boot" in rEFInd docs](https://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/controlling-sb.html)
+- ["About UEFI Secure Boot" in Oracle docs](https://docs.oracle.com/en/operating-systems/oracle-linux/secure-boot/sboot-OverviewofSecureBoot.html)
+