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Many old shim versions are still accepted by secure boot

The CMU CERT Coordination Center has put out an advisory that many exploitable versions of the shim binary, used to boot Linux on systems with UEFI secure boot enabled, were never added to the revocation list.

An attacker with administrative privileges or the ability to modify the boot process could use one of the vulnerable shim bootloaders to bypass Secure Boot protections and execute arbitrary code before the operating system loads. Code executed during this early boot phase may achieve persistent compromise of the platform, including the ability to load unsigned or malicious kernel components that can survive system reboots and, in some cases, operating system reinstallation.

The advisory contains a list of vulnerable shims.


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Almost correct...

Posted Jul 15, 2026 14:19 UTC (Wed) by pjones (subscriber, #31722) [Link]

It's important to note that though they've phrased this as "are still accepted", the actual scenario is that they've been revoked in the newest updates, which have started going out via LVFS (and Windows Update, I guess).

The list is interesting

Posted Jul 16, 2026 5:32 UTC (Thu) by zdzichu (subscriber, #17118) [Link] (1 responses)

The list of vulnerable loaders mad my eyes open wide. Various Linux distributions are to be expected. But exam-taking software? Other programs with names sounding like malware? Why do they need bootloader access at all?

The list is interesting

Posted Jul 16, 2026 7:04 UTC (Thu) by tao (subscriber, #17563) [Link]

I can at least suggest a plausible scenario for exam-taking software.

You don't want students taking an exam to be able to boot custom images, potentially accessing the network, or even access the answers if they're stored on the device. At the same time you also want the systems to be rebooted (well, power cycled) for every new person taking the test, to ensure that there are no remnant artefacts.

Vulnerable shims - Debian

Posted Jul 16, 2026 12:14 UTC (Thu) by amacater (subscriber, #790) [Link]

I'm not the authority: if it helps, Debian 12.15 and 13.6 both contained newer shims and fwupd changes to allow Debian users to update. That was on 11th July so may not have updated the advisory list referenced.
[Tested as part of the Debian images team testing of the point releases - with Steve McIntyre in the room doing the testing :) ]

Why people even use secure boot when it's so PITA?

Posted Jul 16, 2026 19:43 UTC (Thu) by q_q_p_p (guest, #131113) [Link] (1 responses)

No secure boot no problem. I disable it on all my systems and don't have to worry about any shims.

Why people even use secure boot when it's so PITA?

Posted Jul 16, 2026 20:36 UTC (Thu) by wtarreau (subscriber, #51152) [Link]

Agreed. Just security theater whose basic principle is "it's not my fault, I trusted the next step and it failed on us". At least it likely managed to increase certain OS sales by a measurable margin, so not everyone loses in this game.


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