Oct 15, 2026, 4:17 PMEpic's remote-attestation plan for Linux is actually a cunning plot to produce a market for USB TPM dongles that can be reset at runtime and programmed with arbitrary PCR values
- Oct 15, 2026, 4:17 PM
Replies
- Oct 15, 2026, 4:39 PM
Best plan would probably be a USB-SPI bridge (something like the MCP2210) with the standard TPM 2.0 SPI header and let people supply their own TPMs in order to make it hard to simply block them
Oct 15, 2026, 4:21 PM@mjg59 they can just allow-list vendors/brands like Microsoft does for WebAuthn on Entra :-(
- Oct 15, 2026, 4:23 PM
@Aissen The only vendor information they get is the TPM vendor, not the vendor who built the board
- Oct 15, 2026, 4:29 PM
@mjg59 ooh, I did not think of that.
Jonathan McDowellnoodles@social.earth.liOct 15, 2026, 4:37 PM@mjg59 I've got one of those on my desk (https://letstrust.de/)
Frankfschaap@mastodon.socialOct 15, 2026, 4:37 PM@mjg59 What? No mention of AI? How is this ever going to work then?
Steve SyfuhsSteveSyfuhs@hachyderm.ioOct 15, 2026, 5:00 PM@mjg59 what a cursed idea. TPM on portable USB. Next you'll be pointing to one and calling it a seagull.
baloobaloo@sfba.socialOct 15, 2026, 5:27 PM@mjg59 if you want to cut cost, buy a reel of https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/infineon-technologies/SLB9672VU20FW1524XTMA1/29291705
and one of those https://datasheets.globalspec.com/ds/plastronics-socket/32qn50s15050/0dd5020e-7468-49ba-a884-5e72c161ab56 no solder adapter.
LisPilispi314@udongein.xyzOct 15, 2026, 6:09 PM@mjg59 I worry somewhat about silly nonsense like happened with the Flipper Zero occurring.
Emily Vale, GendermancersillyCoelophysis@hachyderm.ioOct 15, 2026, 6:14 PM- LisPilispi314@udongein.xyzOct 15, 2026, 6:15 PM@sillyCoelophysis @mjg59 Some places tried (or did) ban it under some "hacker" (scare quotes) bullshit scare.
Oct 15, 2026, 5:19 PM@mjg59 why would you shoot me with a psychic bolt so casually?
Longhornnever_released@mastodon.socialOct 15, 2026, 5:36 PM@mjg59 imagine allowing fTPMs only
- Oct 15, 2026, 5:43 PM
@never_released PSP and ME vulns suddenly having much higher market value
Pokemod97Pokemod97@treehouse.systemsOct 15, 2026, 6:00 PM@mjg59 Can you emulate the eBPF modules?
- Oct 15, 2026, 6:01 PM
@Pokemod97 it's software, so yeah
- Pokemod97Pokemod97@treehouse.systemsOct 15, 2026, 6:11 PM
@mjg59 Yeah but there is a difference between trivial and precise hardware quirks. I'm wondering which checks are bypassable. Does secure boot have a method of talking to userland backed by secure keys? Or confirming the signed kernel?
- Oct 15, 2026, 6:12 PM
@Pokemod97 nope, that's what the TPM is for, and you can just add a second TPM
- Pokemod97Pokemod97@treehouse.systemsOct 15, 2026, 6:17 PM
@mjg59 Do you need the TPM or can you just fake a TPM on a custom kernel?
Oct 15, 2026, 6:26 PM@Pokemod97 @mjg59 well in theory tpm attestation stops this. but there's no centralized database of root certificates and not all vendors even publish them so im not sure what epic is going to do
- Oct 15, 2026, 6:28 PM
@Pokemod97 @mjg59 on the other hand absolutely nothing stops a discrete TPM from being connected to something that lies about the values being attested (a firmware TPM prevents this, theoretically)
- Pokemod97Pokemod97@treehouse.systemsOct 15, 2026, 6:30 PM
- Oct 15, 2026, 6:31 PM
@Pokemod97 @mjg59 an "interposer" in this context can be a USB dongle with a 2.54mm header, as proposed in the OP
Botch Frivargdeetwenty@todon.nlOct 15, 2026, 6:19 PM@mjg59 not sure but can't we build a kernel that lies to the user space component? Every hardware access is trough the kernel, including TPM, and I believe the "secure boot is on" flag is arbitrated via the kernel as well.
- Oct 15, 2026, 7:34 PM
@deetwenty the firmware tells the TPM that secure boot is enabled