Re: [PATCH v6 4/4] Introduction of HP-BIOSCFG driver [4]

[Mark Pearson]

Hi Jorge,

As I implemented similar on our platforms I have a couple of suggestions which may or may not be helpful.

On Sat, Apr 1, 2023, at 7:58 AM, Thomas Weißschuh wrote:
> Hi Jorge,
>
<snip>
> On 2023-03-09 14:10:22-0600, Jorge Lopez wrote:
<snip>
>
>> Many features of HP Commercial PC’s can be managed using Windows
>> Management Instrumentation (WMI). WMI is an implementation of Web-Based
>> Enterprise Management (WBEM) that provides a standards-based interface
>> for changing and monitoring system settings.  HP BISOCFG driver provides
>> a native Linux solution and the exposed features facilitates the
>> migration to Linux environments.

I'd remove this paragraph personally - but as a minor note, typo in BISOCFG

<snip>
>> 
>> diff --git a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-firmware-attributes b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-firmware-attributes
>> index 4cdba3477176..d1ae6b77da13 100644
>> --- a/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-firmware-attributes
>> +++ b/Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-firmware-attributes
<snip>
>> @@ -126,6 +133,38 @@ Description:
>>  					value will not be effective through sysfs until this rule is
>>  					met.
>>  
>> +		HP specific class extensions
>> +		------------------------------
>> +
>> +		On HP systems the following additional attributes are available:
>> +
>> +		"ordered-list"-type specific properties:
>> +
>> +		elements:
>> +					A file that can be read to obtain the possible
>> +					list of values of the <attr>. Values are separated using
>> +					semi-colon (``;``). The order individual elements are listed
>> +					according to their priority.  An Element listed first has the
>> +					hightest priority. Writing the list in a different order to
>> +					current_value alters the priority order for the particular
>> +					attribute.

isn't this already covered in the 'possible_values' attribute - it's just a string of items? Curious as to when/how this would be used instead of possible_values (but I should probably read the code)
Typo in 'hightest'.

<snip>
>
>> +
>> +
>>  What:		/sys/class/firmware-attributes/*/authentication/
>>  Date:		February 2021
>>  KernelVersion:	5.11
>> @@ -206,7 +245,7 @@ Description:
<snip>
>> @@ -296,6 +335,15 @@ Description:
>>  						echo "signature" > authentication/Admin/signature
>>  						echo "password" > authentication/Admin/certificate_to_password
>>  
>> +		HP specific class extensions
>> +		--------------------------------
>> +
>> +		On HP systems the following additional settings are available:
>> +
>> +		role: enhanced-bios-auth:
>> +					This role is specific to Secure Platform Management (SPM) attribute.
>> +					It requires configuring an endorsement (kek) and signing certificate (sk).
>> +

Your implementation might be different on HP's; but on the Lenovo's this was still used along with the regular roles - it's just the authentication changed from password to a signature approach.

Just checking that you really need a whole new role and that it isn't part of the existing role.

<snip>

>> +		HP specific class extensions
>> +		--------------------------------
>> +
>> +What:		/sys/class/firmware-attributes/*/authentication/SPM/kek
>> +Date:		March 29
>> +KernelVersion:	5.18
>> +Contact:	"Jorge Lopez" <jorge.lopez2@xxxxxx>
>> +Description:	'kek' is a write-only file that can be used to configure the
>> +		RSA public key that will be used by the BIOS to verify
>> +		signatures when setting the signing key.  When written,
>> +		the bytes should correspond to the KEK certificate
>> +		(x509 .DER format containing an OU).  The size of the
>> +		certificate must be less than or equal to 4095 bytes.
>> +
>> +
>> +What:		/sys/class/firmware-attributes/*/authentication/SPM/sk
>> +Date:		March 29
>> +KernelVersion:	5.18
>> +Contact:	"Jorge Lopez" <jorge.lopez2@xxxxxx>
>> +Description:	'sk' is a write-only file that can be used to configure the RSA
>> +		public key that will be used by the BIOS to verify signatures
>> +		when configuring BIOS settings and security features.  When
>> +		written, the bytes should correspond to the modulus of the
>> +		public key.  The exponent is assumed to be 0x10001.
>

I wondered if these could be combined with the signature and certificate fields that I implemented for the Lenovo platforms - and those be moved out of the Lenovo specific section and then made general (and optional)
kek looks like it corresponds to certificate and sk to signature?

>
>> +
>> +
>> +What:		/sys/class/firmware-attributes/*/attributes/last_error
>> +Date:		March 29
>> +KernelVersion:	5.18
>> +Contact:	"Jorge Lopez" <jorge.lopez2@xxxxxx>
>> +Description:	'last_error' is a read-only file that returns WMI error number
>> +		and message reported by last WMI command.
>
> Does this provide much value?
> Or could this error just be logged via pr_warn_ratelimited()?

This one seemed odd to me too - doesn't the driver return the error to the use on a failed WMI access?