Re: Re[2]: 'password' command in GRUB 2?

[Robert Millan]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 07:32:37PM +0200, Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 26, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Michal Suchanek<address@hidden> wrote:
> > 2009/8/25 Vladimir 'phcoder' Serbinenko <address@hidden>:
> >>> However, that CVE is about grub leaving its passwords in memory.
> >>> Wiping memory used by grub should be fast - orders of magnitude faster
> >>> than loading the OS kernel for example.
> >> Actually this specific report is about BIOS leaving its keyboard
> >> buffer - you can find BIOS password there too. As BIOS is proprietary
> >> firmware whatever we do we can never ensure it being secure. Even the
> >
> > Even if many BIOSes leave their password there it's not reason to be as 
> > sloppy.
> >
> Let me clarify my position:
> 1) If someone submits a patch with clean (E.g. shredding grub_free,
> ensure there is no memory leak and a shredder for BIOS buffer) then I
> would recomment to merge this patch
> 2) This is a considerable amount of work and not a priority.
> 3) It's not a reason to hold the release

root's ability to read GRUB password from physical memory is already obvious
by the fact that it is stored in clear text in grub.cfg.

When we support password hashing, this should be contemplated as well.

But for now, I agree with Vladimir that this isn't a reason to hold the
release.

-- 
Robert Millan

  The DRM opt-in fallacy: "Your data belongs to us. We will decide when (and
  how) you may access your data; but nobody's threatening your freedom: we
  still allow you to remove your data and not access it at all."