David Li <[email protected]> writes:

> Can an attacker easily change or swap these hash values inside the TPM
> if he has the root privilege?

The scenario I described is designed to allow remote parties to detect
an OS image that has been modified by the adversary.  The scenario
assumes we trust the everything up to and including the boot loader, as
it is what places values in the PCRs.  Suppose the adversary knows the
provisioned set of PCR hashes, and has inserted code into the OS image.
To remain undetected, when the adversary's code is executed, the
adversary would like to replace the PCR values measure by the boot
loader with ones in the provisioned set.  The TPM is designed to prevent
this attack.  When one extends a PCR, one computes the hash of the
current value and the new value, and places that hash in the PCR.
Because of the hashing, it improbable that the adversary can extend the
PCR with a value that would reproduce the provisioned value.

There are ways to remove the BIOS and the boot loader from the list of
trusted components.  Intel's TXT hardware, and AMD's equivalent provide a
means by which the hardware measures software used in the early boot
process.

John

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