Secure Bootloader Shadow Partition Authentication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern operating systems like Microsoft Windows 10 modify operating system volumes during operation, causing authentication failures in electronic gaming machines due to changes in file system metadata, which prevents the use of these systems in secure boot processes.
Innovation Solution
A secure bootloader that stores digitally signed datasets representing operating system volumes on a shadow partition, allowing selection, authentication, and creation of new operating system volumes on operating system partitions, ensuring authenticity and preventing modifications made by the operating system during previous boots.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If modern operating systems like Windows 10 are used in electronic gaming machines, then advanced features and functionality are improved, but authentication fails due to modifications made by the operating system during operation
Solution Approach 1:
The secure bootloader performs preliminary authentication of the operating system dataset before the operating system executes and modifies it. By authenticating the dataset in advance (creating a hash and comparing it to an encrypted reference hash) before the operating system can make changes, the system ensures that only authenticated operating systems are loaded, preventing authentication failures caused by runtime modifications.
Solution Approach 2:
The storage system is segmented into distinct partitions: an operating system partition where the authenticated OS resides, and a shadow partition that stores the encrypted reference hash and authentication data. This segmentation allows the authentication mechanism to operate independently on the OS dataset without interfering with the OS's normal operations, resolving the conflict between OS functionality and authentication reliability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If operating system volumes are modified during operation to support modern OS features, then system functionality is improved, but authentication authenticity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The authentication of the operating system dataset is performed preliminarily, before the operating system executes and modifies the volumes. The secure bootloader creates a hash of the OS dataset and compares it to an encrypted reference hash stored on the shadow partition. This preliminary authentication occurs at boot time, ensuring dataset authenticity before any modifications are made during OS operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The hash function and encrypted reference hash act as intermediaries between the operating system dataset and the authentication verification process. Instead of directly comparing the potentially modified OS volumes against a reference, the system uses hash values as an intermediary representation that can be securely stored and compared, maintaining authenticity verification despite runtime modifications to the actual OS volumes.
3Reliability
If digitally signed datasets are stored on shadow partition and authenticated during secure boot, then system security is improved, but boot process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of implementing complex cryptographic verification of entire operating system datasets, the system creates a simplified copy or representation in the form of a hash value. This hash copy is stored in an authenticated manner on the shadow partition and can be quickly compared during boot. This copying approach maintains security by verifying data integrity through the hash while avoiding the complexity of verifying every byte of the OS dataset.
Solution Approach 2:
The authentication mechanism extracts only the essential verification element (the hash of the OS dataset) from the complete operating system dataset. By taking out this single critical verification component and storing it separately on the shadow partition with an encrypted reference, the system simplifies the boot process while maintaining security. The bootloader only needs to compute and compare this single hash value rather than verifying the entire OS.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques for providing one or more authenticable operating system volumes on an electronic gaming machine are provided. The systems and techniques may, for example, involve storing one or more datasets, each representing one or more operating system volumes for an operating system, on a shadow partition and then selecting one of those datasets as part of the boot process, authenticating it, and creating one or more operating system volumes on one or more operating system partitions of the electronic gaming machine. The systems and techniques may further involve causing a kernel of the operating system to execute from the newly created one or more operating system volumes only after authentication is successfully performed.