Remember that time, when it was possible for about 6 years to hack into any Linux system (without drive encryption) which had GRUB by pressing backspace exactly 28 times? Yeah, good old times.
Yeah that is not really an “OMG” vulnerability as I can also get into that machine by booting it with a USB drive, or plugging it’s drove into my own machine.
Better replace your keyboard everytime you leave it unattended, someone could put a keylogger in it. Don’t forget to check for hidden pinhole cameras around that capture you inputting your passwords. Etc, etc. Those even work against an encrypted drive…
grub’s always been a hack. The first stage in 512 byte boot sector chainloads the second stage in the space between boot sector and the first sectors of first partition. Second stage chainloads the kernel. (This is my primitive gist.)
grub was never made for security, it just exists in a place where one would think security would be priority… but again, physical access = pwned, etc.
Not quite the same, but funny: I recently unlocked an HDD from a car head unit to prove to a friend that it was only storing music ripped from its CD drive (and the associated minimal CD title database)… Toshiba master HDD password is 32 spaces. 😅
Remember that time, when it was possible for about 6 years to hack into any Linux system (without drive encryption) which had GRUB by pressing backspace exactly 28 times? Yeah, good old times.
https://www.hmarco.org/bugs/CVE-2015-8370-Grub2-authentication-bypass.html
That’s hyperbole. Such a system can be “hacked” by simply plugging in a usb-stick and booting from that instead, or dozens of other ways.
The only reason to use GRUB authentication I can think of would be in something like a kiosk.
Yeah that is not really an “OMG” vulnerability as I can also get into that machine by booting it with a USB drive, or plugging it’s drove into my own machine.
If the adversary has physical access you are generally pwned either way
Does anyone here use GRUB authentication? If so why? What’s your threat model?
Breh. What? I feel naked right now.
Better replace your keyboard everytime you leave it unattended, someone could put a keylogger in it. Don’t forget to check for hidden pinhole cameras around that capture you inputting your passwords. Etc, etc. Those even work against an encrypted drive…
To be fair I rotate hardware and DE so often my drives are wiped nearly monthly. But Jesus this is egregious.
grub’s always been a hack. The first stage in 512 byte boot sector chainloads the second stage in the space between boot sector and the first sectors of first partition. Second stage chainloads the kernel. (This is my primitive gist.)
grub was never made for security, it just exists in a place where one would think security would be priority… but again, physical access = pwned, etc.
Not quite the same, but funny: I recently unlocked an HDD from a car head unit to prove to a friend that it was only storing music ripped from its CD drive (and the associated minimal CD title database)… Toshiba master HDD password is 32 spaces. 😅