The next coreboot release tag is scheduled for next Monday, February
19th!
With the upcoming release we are changing our release number format
from a version number to a date format. So it will be versioned 24.02.
As always, please test any mainboards, give feedback, and if possible
submit a patch for review if you found an issue. We appreciate any
help.
Also, let us know if there are any patches which need to make it into
the release. You can do that by responding to this email and by adding
the following hashtag to the related patch on Gerrit. The hashtag field
is shown after clicking on the "show all" button from the top left
information block of a patch.
coreboot_release_2402 [1]
We are using another hashtag in order to track patches which are
important or useful in some way, maybe even ready to be submitted, but
might break something and thus the risk is too high right before the
release. So we prefer to submit them after the release which gives
enough time for testing until the next release. Examples are version
updates to the toolchain or updates to the FSP submodule pointer.
The hashtag is as follows:
coreboot_post_release_2402 [2]
Please don't hesitate and reach out to us if you have any question.
Felix
---
[1] https://review.coreboot.org/q/hashtag:coreboot_release_2402
[2] https://review.coreboot.org/q/hashtag:coreboot_post_release_2402
Dieser Termin wurde mit folgendem Hinweis abgesagt:
"Updated with link to BigBlueButton meeting space."
coreboot Leadership Meeting
Every 2 weeks from 11:00 to 12:00 on Wednesday
Mountain Time - Denver
Standort
US-BLD-PEARL2930-1-A-Nine-banded Armadillo (6) [GVC]
https://www.google.com/maps/search/US-BLD-PEARL2930-1-A-Nine-banded+Armadil…
Mit Google Meet teilnehmen
https://meet.google.com/pyt-newq-rbb?hs=224
Per Telefon teilnehmen
(US) +1 608-618-4744
PIN: 143813170
Weitere Telefonnummern
https://tel.meet/pyt-newq-rbb?pin=6680344120895&hs=0
The meeting will be held via
BigBlueButtonhttps://bbb.sfconservancy.org/b/mar-sfn-e22-axicoreboot
leadership meeting minutesUse the number and pin below to join the
meeting.United States (US): +1-718-247-9666PIN: 89421
Organisator
pgeorgi(a)google.com
pgeorgi(a)google.com
~~//~~
Einladung von Google Kalender: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/
Sie erhalten diese E-Mail, weil Sie ein Gast des Termins sind. Wenn Sie
keine weiteren Informationen zu diesem Termin erhalten möchten, lehnen Sie
die Einladung ab.
Wenn Sie diese Einladung weiterleiten, kann jeder Empfänger eine Antwort an
den Organisator senden und zur Gästeliste hinzugefügt werden. Außerdem
könnte er weitere Nutzer einladen und Ihre Antwort ändern.
Weitere Informationen
https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/37135#forwarding
Issue #522 has been reported by Vadim Zaliva.
----------------------------------------
Bug #522: `region_overlap()` function might not work as expected due to an integer overflow in `region_end()` function.
https://ticket.coreboot.org/issues/522
* Author: Vadim Zaliva
* Status: New
* Priority: Normal
* Category: coreboot common code
* Target version: none
* Start date: 2023-12-27
* Affected versions: master
----------------------------------------
`region_overlap()` function checks whether or not two memory regions overlap. Memory regions are represented as a region struct that contains the region's offset and size. This function then relies on `region_end()` function to compute the end of the region. `region_end()` function is susceptible to an integer overflow, which might result in the incorrect behaviour of `region_overlap()` function.
An example of inputs that lead to wrong behaviour:
```
struct region r1 = {SIZE_MAX - 10, 20};
struct region r2 = {SIZE_MAX - 20, 15};
```
It returns 0, but since the regions actually overlap, it should return 1.
`region_overlap()` function is used in `smm_region_overlaps_handler()` function, which is itself used in SMI handlers to validate address values that come from an untrusted environment. This is necessary to prevent security vulnerabilities such as described in [BARing the System by Yuriy Bulygin, Oleksandr Bazhaniuk et al.](https://www.c7zero.info/stuff/REConBrussels2017_BARing_the_system.pdf)
We do not have an example of an exploit based on this incorrect behaviour and are aware of the existence of one. However, theoretically, this could lead to security vulnerabilities.
This bug was found during an ongoing [Coreboot Formal Verification Project](https://zaliva.org/UCSC-Twisted-Presentation-20231211.pdf), which aims to prove some important security properties of the coreboot’s SMI handler for the Gemini Lake/Octopus platform using Coq proof assistant and Verified Software Toolchain framework.
--
You have received this notification because you have either subscribed to it, or are involved in it.
To change your notification preferences, please click here: https://ticket.coreboot.org/my/account
# 2024-02-07 - coreboot Leadership Meeting Minutes
## Attendees
Mina Asante, Martin Roth, Felix Singer, Jay Talbott, Werner Zeh, Matt Devillier, Patrick Georgi,
Ahmed Elgogary, Jonathan Hall, Felix Held, Nicholas Chin, Simon Glass, Julius Werner, Varshit
Panda, David Hendricks, Nico Huber, Lean Sheng Tan, Max Brune.
## Open Action Items
* 2024-01-10
* [Open] Werner: Push patch based on https://ticket.coreboot.org/issues/522
* Nico: https://review.coreboot.org/q/topic:enforce_region_api
* [Open] Daniel: Look at how we want to localize (non console) strings for coreboot. Long term project.
* 2023-11-01
* [Started]Martin: Shallow submodules - document & test, then update submodules if testing goes well.
Additionally look at whether the .branch option helps.
* We can save over 900MB by using shallow submodules.
* [Projects & RFCs](https://docs.google.com/document/d/15H2m4swdESSgGaIuINOePkyst8b39Y7Lu….
* Making progress - see email thread.
* 2023-10-4
* Martin: Write a tutorial for gerrit - Feel free to help.
[Started](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z8igNdgBG5_Qlr4kKRtlbpKaZo9RUg….
* [Open] OSFF: Look into making a video about using gerrit.
* Discussed with Christian who felt this was a good plan.
* Look at next year.
* [Open] Martin: Write a document about vendorcode submodules.
## Minutes
### [Martin/Felix] Switching to BigBlueButton.
* The upcoming meeting in two weeks (02/21/24) will take place on BigBlueButton instead of Google
Chat. Further information will be published to the mailing list between Wednesday's meeting and the
following one.
* New meeting link to join the leadership meeting:
* https://bbb.sfconservancy.org/b/mar-sfn-e22-axi
* For phone access, call +1-718-247-9666, then enter 89421 as the conference PIN number.
* It looks like there’s only a USA phone number.
### [FelixS] Building a community FSP for Intel based platforms
* Initial coreboot support for Intel consumer platforms mostly comes with Google Chromebooks.
* coreboot support for a wide range of mainboards is only possible if Intel releases FSP binaries.
For some platforms Intel refuses to release a FSP binary and Intel also refuses to fix issues within FSP.
* How to make coreboot more independent? People have tried convincing Intel to make FSP open
source. It seems unlikely that anything in that regard happens any time soon.
* As a compromise, I am proposing to build our own FSP from scratch that is built by the community,
specifically companies. It's still meant to be closed-source, since Intel won't allow us to write
open source code, but then we are able to extend and improve it whenever we want.
* Will Intel allow us to distribute our own binaries if the code is completely written by ourselves?
* Possible issues
* Getting a multi-party NDA
* [Werner] First of all we need an entity which could be the NDA partner (OSFF could probably be?)
* Getting a license so that we are allowed to distribute it
* [Werner]The license that comes with the FSP code that I am aware of explicitly inhibits code
changes and productive use of self-built binaries. How would we ensure this?
* [FelixS] AFAIK the standard license allows us to do code changes but it doesn’t allow us
distributing the binary over let’s say a website. So I am wondering if it’s different with
something we build ourselves.
* [Sheng] Do you have connections with Intel folks to make this happen or initiate the discussion?
Is there a solid plan for this, to outline the goals, process, and details with Intel? Or is this
just a mere suggestion that is probably not very practical? Since this is not an Intel specific
issue, how about AMD? This won't happen overnight - who is going to lead this initiative with
Silicon vendors, initiate discussions and meetings (and it will be a difficult and consuming
process), collect feedback from all parties, and craft out a solid plan to move ahead?
* [Martin] In coreboot’s agreement with SFC, we agreed that any and all software and/or
documentation developed and maintained by the Project and the Project’s participants will be
distributed solely as Free Software.
* Because of this agreement, while this proposed FSP could be interesting to the coreboot group,
it’s not, and cannot be, a coreboot project. Since we wouldn’t be able to open source the proposed
FSP, I’m not even convinced that it’s something that should be discussed in this meeting.
* [Felix S.] Just wants to hear the opinion of the coreboot community and not try to add this
project to coreboot’s projects
* [Jonathan H] It would be hard to get manager support since it’s not open source.
* [Jay T] A separate license is required for release. The FSP needs to be identified as non-intel.
* [Nico] We can focus on FSP-S and publish everything that doesn’t have to be secret as open
source. What does intel feel about this?
* [Martin]: if we’re doing it as open source, why do it as FSP, why not just do it as coreboot?
* David: Look at getting a consortium of companies to sit down with intel and try to work with them
to make FSP better. This can’t be done privately, cutting intel out of the loop.
* Werner: OSFF is ready to take over things like this instead of doing it as a consortium.
Intel has typically even rejected the idea of joining the OSFF to do something like this.
* David: Start with contacting intel. I can put Felix in touch with someone from intel.
* Sheng: Try building on top of Subrata’s success: 75% of FSPS is getting moved to the platform firmware.
* https://blog.osfw.foundation/breaking-the-boundary-a-way-to-create-your-own…
* Incorporate Fiano tool as part of Intel coreboot build process to remove the unused FSP modules during build time.
That will help to shrink the FSP-S binary by 75%. For the rest of the 25%, the community can start poking around it by trying to implement those as part of native coreboot code.
* Resume the work on LibGFXinit. If LibGfx driver is production ready, then we could further shrink
FSP-S by removing the graphic init module from it.
### [Arthur] Status update on ARM LBBR bootflow (was asked last meeting)
* Nothing to discuss so not sure if this needs to be on the agenda.
* Things are progressing along with the LBBR Engineering Change Request to include other bootflow
recommendations where coreboot is BL1
* It’s an industry wide spec, so a wide range of partners were asked for input, which takes time
* [Martin] We were told in a previous leadership meeting back in October or November that the
decision of what to include in the spec would be made at a meeting in January, which is why we
pushed so hard to get the decision about the ARM coreboot solutions to be wrapped up.
* As far as it being on the agenda, I think even letting us know that things are just progressing
but not resolved yet is information that should be shared instead of just leaving people wondering
what’s going on.
* When should we expect an actual update? June? December? 2025?
* [Sheng] No idea..you know how big corporate’s meetings go.. People in the meeting keep asking
more questions. As ARM has a wide range of ecosystem partners, and they want to be heard. We are
also wondering and equally frustrated, but nothing within 9elements control, we already did our
best as possible and keep putting in more resources to help resolve the questions from Arm
partners.. Just want to be very cautious here that we did not promise fast approval, but the CB
decision was crucial to kickstart the discussion and help to accelerate the process. Hopefully ARM
SystemReady will finalize the decision in the coming months. Will share more when we have updates.
* When are the patches in question expecting to be merged?
* [Sheng] As per I got the confirmation and agreement from leadership in the meeting that with the conditional approval,
the patches will be merged immediately after we got confirmation from ARM that the proposed coreboot->TFA is included in the LBBR spec. If the condition changes then will need to bring it up again.
### [Elyes] revert & get rid of write{8,16,32,64}p (readXXp? ).
* See Julius’s comment here : https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/80193.
* Julius: There’s a reason we use void pointers - we want to practice good hygiene and use the
correct types for variables.
* FelixH: In some cases you have #defines for different MMIO addresses. You need additional
typecasts in the code for this.
* Werner: Adding the typecast indicates that the developer is doing this intentionally.
* David: Something in linux coding guidelines about not hiding pointers as typedefs. This is in the same vein.
* Felix & Nico - Agree that removing these will make the code more cluttered.
* MaxB: No reason to have these functions - It just hides the typecast. So what if it adds just a bit of clutter.
* David: I’d stick with the older format.
* Werner: I’m with David - just cast the variable properly.
* David: This could also create a bad precedent.
* David: Fix the variables that are being passed in rather than casting them?
* We’d like one implementation instead of two. Let’s make a decision about what we want to use.
* Let’s figure out where the variables are created and see why they’re created with an incorrect type.
* FelixH: Get stats of the usage of the different function types. Suspects that most values are
actually uintptr_t.
### [Martin] coreboot 24.02 release in just under 2 weeks
* Release planned for February 19, 2024.
### [SimonG] Coreboot Control Block again
* [Link](https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/77712).
* Julius doesn’t feel that the benefit is not worth the maintenance cost.
* CBFS is the main alternative. CCB should either have its own file or use one of the existing
* Wener Zeh, Matt Deviller and David Hendricks generally approve to get this feature in.
# Next meeting
* February 21, 2024.
* [Meeting link](https://bbb.sfconservancy.org/b/mar-sfn-e22-axi).
* [coreboot Calendar](https://coreboot.org/calendar.html).
# Notice
* Decisions shown here are not necessarily final, and are based
on the current information available. If there are questions or comments
about decisions made, or additional information to present, please put
it on the leadership meeting agenda and show up if possible to discuss
it.
Of course items may also be discussed on the mailing list, but as it's
difficult to interpret tone over email, controversial topics frequently
do not have good progress in those discussions. For particularly
difficult issues, it may be best to try to schedule another meeting.
# coreboot leadership meeting minutes
* [2024-02-07](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NRXqXcLBp5pFkHiJbrLdv3Spqh1….
Dear community,
Please note that the upcoming coreboot leadership meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 7, 2024. [1]
You are welcome to update the current agenda items with matters you wish to see addressed during the meeting. [2]
## Current Agenda Items
### [Martin/Felix] Switching to BigBlueButton.
* The upcoming meeting in two weeks will take place on BigBlueButton instead of Google Chat.
Further information will be published to the mailing list between this Wednesday's meeting and the following one.
### [FelixS] Building a community FSP for Intel based platforms
* Initial coreboot support for Intel consumer platforms mostly comes with Google Chromebooks.
* coreboot support for a wide range of mainboards is only possible if Intel releases FSP binaries.
For some platforms Intel refuses to release a FSP binary and Intel also refuses to fix issues
within FSP.
* How to make coreboot more independent? People have tried convincing Intel to make FSP open
source. It seems unlikely that anything in that regard happens any time soon.
* As a compromise, I am proposing to build our own FSP from scratch that is built by the community,
specifically companies. It's still meant to be closed-source, since Intel won't allow us to write
open source code, but then we are able to extend and improve it whenever we want.
* Will Intel allow us to distribute our own binaries if the code is completely written by
ourselves?
* Possible issues
* Getting a multi-party NDA
* Getting a license so that we are allowed to distribute it
* [Werner]The license that comes with the FSP code that I am aware of explicitly inhibits code
changes and productive use of self-built binaries. How would we ensure this?
* [FelixS] AFAIK the standard license allows us to do code changes but it doesn’t allow us
distributing the binary over let’s say a website. So I am wondering if it’s different with
something we build ourselves.
* [Sheng] Do you have connections with Intel folks to make this happen or initiate the discussion?
Is there a solid plan for this, to outline the goals, process, and details with Intel? Or is this
just a mere suggestion that is probably not very practical? Since this is not an Intel specific
issue, how about AMD? This won't happen overnight - who is going to lead this initiative with
Silicon vendors, initiate discussions and meetings (and it will be a difficult and consuming
process), collect feedback from all parties, and craft out a solid plan to move ahead?
* [Martin] In coreboot’s agreement with SFC, we agreed that any and all software and/or
documentation developed and maintained by the Project and the Project’s participants will be
distributed solely as Free Software.
* Because of this agreement, while this proposed FSP could be interesting to the coreboot group,
it’s not, and cannot be, coreboot project. Since we wouldn’t be able to open source the proposed
FSP, I’m not even convinced that it’s something that should be discussed in this meeting.
### [Arthur] Status update on ARM LBBR bootflow (was asked last meeting)
* Nothing to discuss so not sure if this needs to be on the agenda.
* Things are progressing along with the LBBR Engineering Change Request to include other bootflow
recommendations where coreboot is BL1
* It’s an industry wide spec, so a wide range of partners were asked for input, which takes time
* [Martin] We were told in a previous leadership meeting back in October or November that the
decision of what to include in the spec would be made at a meeting in January, which is why we
pushed so hard to get the decision about the ARM coreboot solutions to be wrapped up.
* As far as it being on the agenda, I think even letting us know that things are just progressing
but not resolved yet is information that should be shared instead of just leaving people wondering
what’s going on.
* When should we expect an actual update? June? December? 2025?
* When are the patches in question expecting to be merged?
### [Elyes] revert & get rid of write{8,16,32,64}p (readXXp? ).
* See Julius’s comment here:
(https://review.coreboot.org/c/coreboot/+/80193)
### [Martin] coreboot 24.02 release in just under 2 weeks
* Release planned for Feb 19
[1](https://coreboot.org/calendar.html).
[2](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NRXqXcLBp5pFkHiJbrLdv3Spqh1Hu086HYkK….