From a21049e02d7db9acc9c929cc17e50cb2c0e51353 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Francis Rowe Date: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 07:42:57 -0400 Subject: FAQ: more info about the Intel Management Engine --- (limited to 'site/faq') diff --git a/site/faq/index.php b/site/faq/index.php index dc08b80..88e5e95 100644 --- a/site/faq/index.php +++ b/site/faq/index.php @@ -108,10 +108,14 @@ on ThreadX RTOS, which is an embedded operating system designed specifically for those chips. Manufacturers (not just Intel) can pay for a (proprietary) license providing access to the source code, but they are not allowed to share it with anyone. In other words, even - if Intel wanted to release the source code for this blob, they could not do so. + if Intel wanted to release the source code for this blob, they could not do so. Even if they did, the ME + firmware is cryptographically signed, where the signature is verified at boot time. If you try to use your own modified + version of the ME firmware, it will be rejected by the ARC processor and your system will not boot. In other words, + the ME firmware is tivoized.

The Management Engine is a giant backdoor, allowing full access to your entire system for malicious adversaries. + The libreboot project strongly recommends that you avoid it.

CPU microcode updates

-- cgit v0.9.1