Questions tagged [boot]
"Booting" is the process of starting up a computer from the OFF state. This tag is for attacks and security measures relating to the startup routine of computer hardware, firmware, or operating systems.
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Android verified boot within the boot sequence
I'm interested in understanding the verified boot process in Android, yet I was unable to find insights about some properties of the process.
From what I gathered so far I get that in Android devices ...
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Exploiting a Linux startup script that is world writable
What are startup scripts in Linux and what are the steps to exploit startup scripts if they are world writable?
I would appreciate if one can explain based on the following two files as example in ...
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How does Android prevent me from installing custom system services?
I am trying to understand the secure boot process. Lets say the firmware is locked and only does signed installation of an OS image. This "image" is a compressed bundle of all the binaries needed by ...
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Does periodically rebooting secure-boot-enabled devices improve security by preventing persistent compromise?
Many devices now enforce verified/trusted/secure boot, which according to Wikipedia "will only allow signed software to run on the device." Platforms that support this feature include Android, iOS, ...
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How is hardware based chain of trust implemented in practice for secure boot?
To do secure boot we need an immutable public key baked into the ROM. This key is used to sign the boot loader or the key used to sign the boot loader. I have these questions -
Which code does this ...
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How to launch kali Linux installer inside live version
i need to know how I can launch the kali Linux installer through terminal pleas.
Running latest version of kali Linux on LIVE USB.
Trouble booting with uefi and so forth so I need to know how to ...
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VeraCrypt - Windows boots Automated Repair on UEFI/GPT
OK. So I used VeraCrypt to encrypt the system partition and now Windows boots its automated repair only. After the repair in what I think is Windows Recovery Environment I can choose to boot off USB ...
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Should a secure boot process be aware of the peripherals/hardware?
I know the question is rather broad because I am not specifying which hardware and which OS, but that is intentional. I know there should be a root of trust verification in hardware (ROM) before the ...
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Windows Secure Boot compromise: are fully-patched PCs vulnerable?
Are fully-patched (as of Aug. 10, 2016) Windows installs vulnerable to allowing self-signed early-boot malware to run- because of this ? If so, which versions of Windows are vulnerable.
What in ...
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Could a computer turn itself on if the BIOS was modified even if it was turned off by holding the power button down?
My Thinkpad might have been hacked and I know this sounds a little far-fetched, but I suspect the BIOS might have also been hacked.
Would turning it off by holding the power button for a few seconds ...
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UEFI Firmware integrity measurement
We know that UEFI measures the OS bootloader image integrity every time we power on our computer if secure boot is enabled.
With the growing attacks and discoveries of UEFI vulnerabilities, the ...
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How are TPMs provisioned for Intel Trusted Execution Environment (TXT)?
For Intel TXT to work, the TPM must be provisioned. Intel provides some tools for doing this but many are protected by non-public login or an NDA. Many OEM platform vendors provision their boards and ...
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Boot-sector virus - can it spread only through floppy disks?
Do boot-sector viruses spread only through floppy discs, and so are the thing of the past, or can they spread through USB, removable hard drives etc?
Techopedia states:
The propagation of boot ...
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Is a computer more vulnerable if wireless is left on when booting?
Normally I switch off wireless on my laptop before I shut it down but I forgot to do this last night. So this morning, after I booted up the laptop, I saw the wireless notification on the bottom right ...
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How to find out if my MBR has Evil Maid code?
If Truecrypt Bootloader will remain visually the same, how can I find out if it was infected?
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How do boot-sector viruses propagate?
I'm doing research on various malware and I came across boot-sector viruses. Kaspersky states that "they are not designed to infect removable media."
My question is, how do they spread then?
Again ...
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How can I prevent booting from media devices?
first of all, I deeply apologise because of my silly question. The thing is that I am learning about hardening. I have VMware workstation 12, and I've created a VM CentOS 7 machine (to be integrated ...
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Best way to make a Linux install tamper proof
Good day, I am currently planning an environment where it comes down to the biggest security risk being to boot to another environment and tamper with the install on the disk (Older PCs with physical ...
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Android Rooting and Evil Maid Attacks
I'm trying to learn more about full disk encryption (in the context of a Linux based server) and what schemes offer true security and which only offer the illusion of security.
As I understand it, ...
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anti cloning hard disk [closed]
I'm trying to create an "anti-cloning" system. I'd like to know if there's a way to check a unique label on the hard disk, during the boot phase, in order to avoid the machine to continue booting if ...
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Is TPM ownership required for secure boot or measured boot?
I know:
Secure Boot - can use the TPM
Measured Boot - must use the TPM
Can anyone intimately familiar with these processes explain if any TPM owner-authorized commands are required or used in these ...
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tpm sealing and secure boot
I have worked with TPM for a while, and I'm interested in some of its features. Especially sealing and the use of TPM's PCRs in the secure boot process.
My question is: What is stopping an attacker ...
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What's the point of encrypting /boot or / partition?
I'm not talking about full disk hardware encryption. I'm talking about software encryption.
encrypting /home prevents your data after your laptop is stolen. As far as I understand, encrypting / and /...
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Disk Encryption - Extended Boot Record protection
I posted something like this on SuperUser some months ago, but thought I'd try the security focused site. Anyway, I am working on a Disk Encryption project using OPAL drives. The OS is Linux, and is ...
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How Do Rootkits & Other Low-Level Malware Still Manage to Load on Systems Protected by Secure Boot (and TB/MB)?
Let me try asking my question this way...
Let's say that I'm a offensive cyber Bad Guy working for a foreign state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat unit. My unit is charged with, say, stealing ...
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Can the windows Remote Procedure Call subsystem be modified from the default without causing Windows 8/8.1/10 to break?
This is a question that personally as a security professional has bugged me for a long time.
So, a default Windows installation, from XP up to 10, typically has a few services listening on the quad-...
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Securing the bootloader
When using full disk encryption the bootloader is not encrypted thus allowing attacks like the Evil Maid.
My question is how can I secure myself from this? Can I encrypt the drive or store it in a ...
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Preventing boot from external media in case of theft of laptop or physical security breach in case of desktops?
I wanted to protect my Laptop from common theft. What I did was that I installed an anti-theft software on my Ubuntu 14.04. The guest account is enabled so that the thief can use my laptop while I ...
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What is susceptible to Kon Boot hack tool?
I just learned about Kon Boot (from this YouTube video) and am wondering, how is such a hack tool guarded against? In the video the presenter claimed he had full disk encryption but was still able to ...
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Lighteater - BIOS/UEFI vulnerable
I am currently a bit confused, I have read today an article about the BIOS-rootkit Lighteater made by John Loucaides and Andrew Furtaki. In their presentation 'How many million BIOSes would you like ...
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Laptop tampering and boot loader
I try to find out how far I can secure my laptop from physical access and tampering attempts.
Setup: ThinkPad with Linux installation
What I have done so far:
disk encryption using cryptsetup for ...
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Prevent cold boot attack on running laptop by overwriting ram [closed]
I'd like to use my laptop as a recording device when I leave home, but there would still be the possibility for a cold boot attack or with DDR3 RAM even warm boot attack is possible as I have read.
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Moving /boot to USB and Preventing booting from other USB devices (Allow boot from only one USB)
I'm going to move my /boot/ folder to a USB to as a security measure to protect against Full Disk Encryption exploits. My question is, is it possible to only allow boot from USB from a single USB ...
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Can a physical attacker compromise a Windows machine with UEFI, secure boot and bitlocker?
Machines such as the MS Surface Pro 3 comes with bitlocker encryption and UEFI secure boot out of the box. However, the default boot order is network -> usb -> ssd.
If an attacker gets physical ...
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Securely erasing USB flash drives from a bootable media
My question refers to securely erasing viruses from the usb flash drives, including the MBR, in case there is one.
I was thinking of booting with Linux from a closed CD-R
(a cd rather than USB flash ...
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PXE TFTP Vulnerabilities
I am planning to implement diskless clients for booting Windows 7 clients. I am trying to determine whether to use PXE with TFTP or iPXE with HTTPS or iSCSI.
Are there any vulnerabilities with using ...
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What are the biggest security concerns on PXE?
What are the top security concerns when setting up a PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) booting environment, ordered by severity of a possible exploitation?
Things that I thought of are (in no ...
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Booting into Live USB Linux
If I have a Live USB Linux stick and I plug it into a computer which is not connected to the internet and boot the computer using the Live USB stick. How secure is this interms of not leaving any ...
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What causes an Operating System to become Corrupted? [closed]
What Causes an Operating Systems ISO image to become Corrupted? I found an ISO image of windows 7 off the internet and now when I use windows 7, its extremely slow. What causes this? I cannot boot up ...
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Dynamic vs Static root of trust
In TCG specification (for TPM devices) they specify how a static root of trust can be built up using secure boot and trusted boot. An alternative method appears to be Intel's Dynamic boot using their ...
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Self-encrypting drives, certification for tamper-protection?
Consider a drive with Opal 2.0 support that works with Microsoft Bitlocker's "eDrive" feature. In this case, supposedly, the encryption key never leaves the disk (which might increase security, ...
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Write-protection at hardware level for security
It seems to me that to maximise server security, one ought - in addition to the usual security measures implemented in software - to prevent the overwriting of certain parts of the server system, such ...
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Single user mode for Windows
I am familiar with single user mode on OSX. By holding down Command-S, you can boot into a terminal as root. Resetting the PRAM with Command-Option-P-R will disable any firmware protection that would ...
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Utilman.exe command prompt hack prevention?
This trick to hack windows and reset passwords(or create new logins)has been around for ages and still works on windows 7 and windows 8. Is there any way to disable the key combination that brings up ...
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Does Windows 8 UEFI Trusted Boot protect SSDT table from modification?
I read from a link that says:
Trusted Boot takes over where Secure Boot leaves off. The bootloader verifies the digital signature of the Windows 8
kernel before loading it. The Windows 8 kernel, ...
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How to protect Linux partition from access from Windows partition?
In a dual-boot environment (windows? and linux mint 15) What would be best best way to prevent access to the linux partition(s) when the system is booted into windows 7?
The goal would be to ...
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Is there a reliable way to simulate "Evil Maid Attack" boot path tampering when using bitlocker?
Suppose you have a system whose OS drive is encrypted with bitlocker and uses TPM + PIN authentication to authenticate the boot path against tampering. As I understand it, this setup theoretically ...
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How is hibernation supported, on machines with UEFI Secure Boot?
I've been learning about UEFI Secure Boot, which attempts to prevent "bootkits" by locking down the boot process so that only signed bootloaders and kernels can be loaded.
Hibernation seems like a ...
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How does UEFI Secure Boot prevent "evil twin" spoofing attacks?
I've been learning about UEFI Secure Boot. It is designed to prevent malware from infecting the boot process and overwriting the bootloader. It has hardware-level protections to ensure that only a ...
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Impact of Mathew Garrett's Secure GRUB Bootloader on UEFI Secure Boot
My eyebrows rose with Matthew Garrett announcing his Secure GRUB Bootloader less than three hours after no longer being a Red Hat employee. This work and its impact on the trust chain design of the ...
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