Operating system bootstrap security mechanism
AssigneeIntle Corporation
InventorsJohn V. Lovelace, Bryon S. Nevis
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for booting an operating system having at least one boot component comprising the steps of accessing an ordered list identifying the at least one boot component; accessing each of the at least one boot component using the ordered list; computing a first hash value from the at least one boot component; accessing a second hash value, the second hash value being secure; comparing the first hash value to the second hash value; and booting the operating system if the first hash value matches the second hash value.
Claims10
A method of booting an operating system having a plurality of boot components, comprising:
- accessing an ordered list that specifies the order in which the plurality of boot components will be supplied to a hash function;
- accessing the plurality of boot components in the order that the ordered list specifies;
- computing a first hash value from the plurality of boot components;
- accessing a second hash value from a secure flash memory;
- comparing the first hash value to the second hash value;
- and
- booting the operating system if the first hash value matches the second hash value.
A machine readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed by a machine performs the steps of:
- accessing an ordered list that specifies the order in which a plurality of boot components will be supplied to a hash function;
- accessing the plurality of boot components in the order that the ordered list specifies;
- computing a first hash value from the plurality of boot components;
- accessing a second hash value from a secure flash memory;
- comparing the first hash value to the second hash value;
- and
- booting the operating system if the first hash value matches the second hash value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.