Coreboot/Bios/Tianocore Password NitroPC

Nitrokeys Misc
#1

Hi there,

I’m happy with my NitroPC, the only thing I wonder about is how to secure the initial boot with coreboot/tianocore(?) with a password. Is this possible ? If not, please implement it.
Thread model is rather a random bypasser trying to boot from usbstick i.e., than a more sophisticate attack.

cheers, varac

#2

Hey varac,

We are aware of this drawback and it is due to the feature not being supported (properly) inside Tianocore.
Concerning the threat model, booting from a stick should not be a problem as your entire hard-disk is encrypted, means even if someone boots into a live-system there still will be no access possible to your data.

Still as you mentioned the evil-maid scenario can happen, but is more sophisticated as you say.

Best

#3

Hi daringer,

who are “we” in this case ? Nitrokey ?
Is there any motion to add this ? I’m a complete noob to tianocore but it looks like there’s basic support for that (https://bugzilla.tianocore.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1545), so I wonder what’s the blocker of using this ? Are there are any plans to add this basic security feature to the nitroPC firmware ?
Or can you link any issue that Nitrokey came across implementing this ?

To be clear: I’m super happy about having a modern NUC supporting coreboot/tianocore, it’s just that I just asked myself how much security I gained and how much I lost from not beeing able to prevent the evil-maid attack in comparism to a common vendor UEFI.

Cheers, Varac

#4

yep, Nitrokey in this case

It is for sure on the list, I can’t promise when it will be available, at this point.
But I’ll add a +1 due to your message :slight_smile:

best

#5

Thanks, good to hear it’s on your list.
Another, unrelated issue: I miss the ability to auto-power-on the NitroPC after power failure.
Reason is I use it as a small server in a basement rack, and it should resume unattended after power failure. Where’s the best place to reuest such features ?

#6

@daringer Any update on this ? Is there a firmware update which includes this feature ?

Also:

I miss the ability to auto-power-on the NitroPC after power failure.
Reason is I use it as a small server in a basement rack, and it should resume unattended after power failure. Where’s the best place to reuest such features ?