Linux Security Summit North America 2018

As lethal security attacks, such as Spectre and Meltdown, arise, Linux has conducted a vast number of software updates to mitigate security threats. However, less attention was given to the dynamically changing integrity of the system after updates. To maintain the trust of the platform, system updates should accompany integrity information updates as well.
We propose TUX, Trust Update for Linux kernel, to guarantee the up-to-date integrity of the pre-boot environment. TUX consolidates kernel repository into Intel's Open CIT to manage up-to-date integrity. Also, TUX deploys kernel which holds up-to-date integrity value as a signature. Finally, TUX secure bootloader mandates integrity verification at the booting using the TUX kernel, leveraging the UEFI secure boot and TPM. Thus, with TUX, Linux system can maintain trust even with the frequent updates.