Validation of fixed firmware profiles for information handling systems

An IHS (Information Handling System) comprising:

• a plurality of hardware components;
• a persistent memory, wherein during factory provisioning of the IHS an inventory certificate is uploaded to the persistent memory, wherein the inventory certificate includes an inventory that identifies firmware for use by the plurality of hardware components of the IHS, and wherein the inventory certificate uploaded to the IHS during the factory provisioning is signed by a certificate authority of a manufacturer of the IHS;
• one or more processors;
• and
• one or more memory devices coupled to the processors, the memory devices storing computer-readable instructions that, upon execution by the processors, cause the IHS to:
• retrieve the inventory certificate uploaded to the persistent memory during factory provisioning of the IHS;
• authenticate the inventory that identifies the firmware for use by the IHS, wherein the inventory is authenticated using cryptographic credentials that are included in the inventory certificate and that are signed by the certificate authority of the manufacturer of the IHS;
• collect an inventory of firmware used by the plurality of hardware components of the IHS;
• compare the collected inventory of firmware against the authenticated inventory from the inventory certificate in order to validate the IHS is operating using only factory-provisioned firmware;
• and
• signal a validation failure when the comparison indicates that one or more of the plurality of hardware components is not operating using the factory-provisioned firmware specified in the inventory certificate.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon for validating secure assembly and delivery of an IHS (Information Handling System), wherein execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the IHS causes a validation process of the IHS to:

• retrieve an inventory certificate uploaded to the IHS during factory provisioning of the IHS, wherein the inventory certificate includes an inventory identifying firmware for use by the IHS, and wherein the inventory certificate uploaded to the IHS during the factory provisioning is signed by a certificate authority of a manufacturer of the IHS;
• authenticate the inventory that identifies the firmware for use by the IHS, wherein the inventory is authenticated using cryptographic credentials that are included in the inventory certificate and that are signed by the certificate authority of the manufacturer of the IHS;
• collect an inventory of firmware used by a plurality of hardware components of the IHS;
• compare the collected inventory of firmware against the authenticated inventory from the inventory certificate in order to validate the IHS is operating using only factory-provisioned firmware;
• and
• signal a validation failure when the comparison indicates that one or more of the plurality of hardware components is not operating using the factory-provisioned firmware specified in the inventory certificate.