[HN Gopher] The Keys to the Kingdom
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       The Keys to the Kingdom
        
       Author : zacwest
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2022-03-23 19:18 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (queue.acm.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (queue.acm.org)
        
       | kurthr wrote:
       | Hopefully, he also patched some portion of the bug that let him
       | rewrite the bootloader signature verification code... or someone
       | else only has to look at your update to have their own keys to
       | the kingdom.
       | 
       | One should also be sure that the signature verification is not
       | based on simply an obscured symmetric key that easily allows key
       | extraction and any code to be rewritten to those devices in the
       | future once it is extracted. One assumes from his solution this
       | isn't the case (or he'd only need one sample to get the key). You
       | don't HAVE to do public/private keys, but it's the most
       | convenient.
        
       | josephcsible wrote:
       | IMO, companies that build tivoized devices like these deserve to
       | go out of business. This whole thing would have been a non-issue
       | if they wouldn't have attempted to restrict the end-user in the
       | first place.
        
         | groby_b wrote:
         | That's a nice absolutist stance to take on the Internet, but it
         | doesn't really work in the real world.
         | 
         | In any security-conscious environment, allowing updates without
         | signature is not a winning move. You have to account for
         | unauthorized access attempts somehow, and signed updates are a
         | pretty standard way to do that.
         | 
         | And if you have signed updates, all the openness in the world
         | doesn't help you with a lost key.
        
           | KennyBlanken wrote:
           | There's not even a hint as to what the device actually was,
           | but I guarantee "the right security features" were about
           | protecting intellectual product, device lifespan control, and
           | likely locking the customer into some completely stupid and
           | unnecessary "cloud" management function. Not the customer's
           | security.
        
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       (page generated 2022-03-23 23:00 UTC)