Linux developers bypass secure boot

James Bottomley, chairman of the Linux Foundation’s technical advisory board, managed to boot the Linux kernel on a secure boot enabled system using self-generated uefi binaries.

Bottomley did this using a new boot image from the Tianocore project and has provided sample code for other developers to try for themselves. In this way it is possible to install Linux on a system even if secure boot is enforced.

When it became known that Windows 8 was going to use secure boot, there was concern in the open source world about the possibility that computer manufacturers would enforce the secure boot option. However, Microsoft itself indicated that this is not mandatory. So it is not yet certain to what extent the major computer manufacturers plan to implement secure boot and several OEMs have already indicated that they will not enforce this. Despite this, developers are working on ways to circumvent secure boot, if it is enforced anyway.

Earlier, Linus Torvalds pointed out various possibilities to circumvent secure boot, such as using private keys and bugs in signed software. In addition, he pointed out that Microsoft does not require the use of secure boot and even asks manufacturers to give users the option to disable secure boot.