[U-Boot] Does U-boot support ASLR?

[Jason Markley (ggsg)]

On 2/9/12 5:16 PM, Graeme Russ wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> My 2c worth...
>
> The thought of applying ASLR to improve security is pointless unless you
> have identified a reason to do so. You can't just apply a security
> hardening technique willy-nilly and expect you security to improve. The
> security of a system is equal to the weakest link and no amount of
> strengthening the other links will improve security
Agreed, but in the grand scheme of things, does that mean the
maintainers of U-boot will ONLY allow patches in that fix the biggest
security hole that currently exists?  If someone desires to patch a
small hole because they have a reason to, or desire to, but it's
currently the biggest hole out there, should said person be denied the
opportunity to present a patch for the hole they've identified?
>
> Remember, U-Boot is a boot-loader. It is very transitory. Think about how
> an attacker could exploit U-Boot (Hint: 10s after booting, they can't)
What about the U-boot API infrastructure?  Isn't that designed to allow
a program that U-boot loads to call back into U-boot to perform some
function?  Doesn't that mean U-boot is no longer transitory?

-Jason
>
> Network: Hit it with IP packets - But U-Boot only activates network code
> on as as-needed basis (typically when someone runs a net command like tftp
> etc) so you already have U-Boot shell access anyway
>
> Serial: Buffer overruns on commands - U-Boot will crash and the board
> reboots and again, you probably already had/have shell access
>
> So it starts to boil down to protecting access to the shell - Access to
> the shell opens up all sorts of possibilities such as changing environment
> variables (including scripts) up to completely replacing the U-Boot image
>
> So my thought would be, if you want to improve U-Boot security, perhaps
> implement password protection on the shell
>
> Regards,
>
> Graeme
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