🛡️ Cybersecurity20 min
UEFI Bootkit Development: Persistence Below the Operating System
A
Muhammad Asim Chattha
Software Developer & Cybersecurity Researcher
#UEFI#Bootkit#Firmware#Secure Boot#Low-Level
Understanding UEFI bootkits is essential for both offensive and defensive security professionals. This research-oriented guide explores firmware-level persistence mechanisms.
UEFI Architecture Refresher
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a sophisticated operating system that runs before your OS boots. Understanding its driver model, protocol interfaces, and boot flow is critical.
Key Areas
- **DXE Driver Development**: Writing UEFI drivers in C with EDK II
- **Boot Chain Analysis**: From SEC → PEI → DXE → BDS → TSL → RT phases
- **Secure Boot Internals**: How Secure Boot validates binaries and common bypass techniques
- **SPI Flash Programming**: Reading and writing firmware storage
- **Defensive Strategies**: Boot Guard, Intel TXT, and measured boot with TPM
⚠️ This is for security research only. Unauthorized firmware modification is illegal.