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CCC · Linux & hardwareCurated

Linux on the Xbox: opening a closed platform

Summary

The Xbox Linux team analyses the hardware and chain of trust of the first Xbox and shows how custom hardware and cryptographic mistakes made Linux on the console possible. Closed devices remain open to investigation when physical possession gives access to their interfaces. A security architecture is only as strong as its weakest implemented detail.

Ideas

  • The Xbox combined PC-like hardware with a cryptographically controlled boot chain.
  • Custom hardware made internal signals and assumptions of the security architecture observable.
  • Implementation errors undermined a chain of trust that was ambitious in principle.

Recommendations

  • When reverse engineering, keep hardware observations apart from assumptions about firmware.
  • Document every step that checks or bypasses the chain of trust.

References

Watch the talk

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