Hardware Security Is Hard: How Hardware Boundaries Define Platform Security
summary
Claim: modern platforms split hardware and firmware across vendors, producing cross‑boundary gaps and a rising number of firmware CVEs in NVD. Evidence: reverse engineering and firmware analysis uncover concrete failures — Boot Guard IBB bypass via manufacturing‑mode flag that disables verification, a TOCTOU in SPI flash early‑boot that lets attackers present forged manifests, and a CSME early‑paging remap to SPI flash that exposes immutable silicon trust. Consequence: these flaws enable secure‑boot bypass and firmware persistence; some require physical access, many are widely unpatched.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Hardware Security is Hard: How Hardware Boundaries Define Platform Security
- 4:25THREE DIFFERENT WORLDS (FW/HW/OS) HAVE A WEAK SECURITY POLICIES TRANSITION BETWEEN THEM
- 9:14IT'S HARD TO FIND REAL SECURITY PROBLEMS IN PLATFORM DIAGRAM BASED ONLY ON REQUIREMENTS
- 14:03The system state transition between firmware layers and security boundaries defined by hardware, but frequently verified in firmware
- 21:25Complexity of modern firmware supply chain is very complex and not controlled 100% by single hardware vendor
- 28:35The diversity of the open-source ecosystem bring inconsistent to the boot process on the late stages
- 33:15The boot time software supply chain only increasing complexity
- 38:55WE REALLY NEED TO RETHINK MEANING OF HARDWARE SECURITY IN REALITIES OF MODERD THREAT MODELS
- 39:35HARDWARE SECURITY IS HARD!
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