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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Linux and Secure Boot certificate expiration (lwn.net)

submitted 1 week ago by HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org to c/linux@lemmy.ml

53 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Linux users who have Secure Boot enabled on their systems knowingly or unknowingly rely on a key from Microsoft that is set to expire in September. After that point, Microsoft will no longer use that key to sign the shim first-stage UEFI bootloader that is used by Linux distributions to boot the kernel with Secure Boot. But the replacement key, which has been available since 2023, may not be installed on many systems; worse yet, it may require the hardware vendor to issue an update for the system firmware, which may or may not happen. It seems that the vast majority of systems will not be lost in the shuffle, but it may require extra work from distributors and users.

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[–] IHawkMike@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You need both FDE and Secure Boot, ideally with FDE using a TPM with PIN and PCR 7+15=0. FDE without SB can be trivially boot-kitted and obviously SB without FDE is mostly pointless. Maybe for a server/desktop behind locked doors you don't worry as much, but for a laptop you absolutely should. Also it's really easy in Arch to resign the UKI with sbctl via a pacman hook whenever the kernel is updated so there's no good reason not to use it.

If you're relying on a LUKS password only, it can be brute-forced. To protect against that you need a decently long password which is annoying to type every boot. A short TPM PIN sealed by SB protecting LUKS is both more convent and more secure.

Finally, if an attacker or malware gets root, FDE isn't protecting you either.

[–] aksdb@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Even having no pre-boot PIN with SB on is nice, then you only need your user space login where you could even use fingerprint reader if you like. For servers they can already start serving without anyone having to intervene manually (which is nice after power outage, for example).

So yeah, SB, TPM and FDE are a very nice bundle that heavily secures against the most relevant attack vectors.

[–] IHawkMike@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

Yep that's how my desktops and servers are set up. I only recently started adding the TPM PIN to my laptops for a bit of extra protection from cold boot / evil maid attacks.