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Write protection

Background

The core of the ChromeOS security model is rooted in a firmware image that we fully control and whose integrity we can guarantee. All existing designs have accomplished this through a dedicated flash part which is guaranteed to be read-only once the device is shipped to customers. This is colloquially referred to as the "read-only (RO) firmware".

The RO firmware is the first thing executed at power on/boot and is responsible for verifying & loading the next piece of code in the system which is usually the Linux kernel. There might be other components that are loaded/chained (read-write (RW) firmware, etc...) before loading the Linux kernel (see Verified Boot for more information), but those details are immaterial here. The point is that the entire system security hinges upon the integrity of the RO firmware.

Hardware Write protect

We guarantee the RO firmware integrity via the Write Protect (WP) signal.  This is a physical line to the flash (where the RO firmware is stored) that tells the flash chip to mark some parts as read-only and to reject any modification requests. So even if ChromeOS was full of bugs and was exploited to gain all the permissions for direct write access to all pieces of hardware in the system, any RO firmware write attempts from code running on the CPU would be stopped by the flash chip itself. Then when the system reboots, the verified boot process would detect any modifications or corruption to the hard drive (e.g. kernel/root filesystem) and interrupt the normal boot flow initiating the ChromeOS recovery process. Thus we can confidently tell customers: if you can reboot a Chromebook into the login screen, you know it's secure.

This is a somewhat tricky topic since write protection implementations can differ between chips and the hardware write protection has changed over time.

Historically, the WP signal has been controlled by a physical screw (colloquially referred to as the "WP screw") inside of the Chromebook.  Our security goals have been that, in order to disable flash WP, someone needs extended physical access to the device, and it would take a non-trivial amount of effort and time to open up the device in order to remove the WP screw (and thus disable the WP signal making the RO firmware writable from software).

In newer devices, we've moved away from the WP signal being controlled by a physical screw and to a separate chip controlling the WP signal.  That way we have more flexible control over the WP signal. It still takes long time and physical presence to disable write protection, and can be configured such that only the device owners are authorized to disable write protection.

That separate chip is often referred to as a secure element (SE), the firmware controlling the SE is called Cr50. This secure element firmware is fully authored and controlled by Google.

Note that even for devices protected by the SE, opening up the device and disconnecting the battery may still disable write protection. If disconnecting the battery does not disable write protection immediately, then see the guide for firmware unlock on 2023+ devices.

Software write protect

In addition to the hardware WP signal, there is a software WP setting that allows us some more flexibility in managing write protection. The Status Register Write Disable (SRWD), a non-volatile bit, is operated together with Write Protection (WP#) pin for providing hardware protection mode. The hardware protection mode requires SRWD set to 1 and WP# pin signal asserted low. In the hardware protection mode, the Write Status Register (WRSR) instruction is no longer accepted for execution and the SRWD bit and Block Protect bits (BP2, BP1, BP0) are read only. The Block Protect, BP, bits mask the regions within the SPI flash data address space such that access that results in mutations can be controlled.

This allows us to ship systems with hardware WP on, but leaving software WP off until a point in time where software decided to engage it. One case where we're using this is devices that originally get flashed with development signing keys, but eventually get upgraded to production keys, after which software WP would get enabled.

Write-protect for developers

Some people ask why we allow the RO firmware to be made writable in the first place if it's so critical to the security of ChromeOS.  It's not an unreasonable question.

Since the start of the project, the ChromeOS team strongly believes that when someone buys a device, they own it fully.  The device does not belong to OEMs, to Google, to ChromeOS, or to anyone else. If the user wants to run Windows, or Linux, or some other random software on their device that isn’t ChromeOS, they should have that freedom.

To that end, we strongly believe that users must be free to fully program their device in any way they want.  Developer mode and support for developers and free software is extremely important to us as a project. So if someone wanted to write their own firmware (which they can as the firmware on devices is open source that we release), they should have that ability.  We’ve seen some projects do just that, as well as users who have leveraged that.

The ability to reprogram firmware is also a core requirement for Google-internal development needs.  It would be much more complicated during the early phases of a new hardware project to iron out kinks without the ability to fix firmware on the chips in the devices themselves.

Application Processor (AP) Firmware

AP firmware (also known as "SOC firmware", "host firmware", "main firmware" or even "BIOS") typically resides on a SPI ROM. Protection registers on the SPI ROM are programmed to protect the read-only region, and these registers cannot be modified while the SPI ROM WP (write protect) pin is asserted. This pin is asserted through various physical means, but with effort, users can unprotect devices they own.

Embedded Controller (EC) Firmware

The ChromeOS Embedded Controller (EC) typically has a WP input pin driven by the same hardware that generates SOC firmware write protect. While this pin is asserted, certain debug features (eg. arbitrary I2C access through host commands) are locked out. Some ECs load code from external storage, and for these ECs, RO protection works similar to SOC firmware RO protection (WP pin is asserted to EC SPI ROM). Other ECs use internal flash, and these ECs emulate SPI ROM protection registers, disabling write access to certain regions while the WP pin is asserted.

Reading Write Protection Status

All commands shown in this section are ran on the ChromeOS device terminal, which is available when the device is booted in developer mode.

Hardware write protection Status

To check hardware write protection status, run the following command: crossystem | grep wpsw

localhost ~ # crossystem | grep wpsw
wpsw_cur                = 1                              # [RO/int] Firmware write protect hardware switch current position

A value of 1 indicates that write protection is enabled.

Software Write Protection and Write Protection Range Status

To check software write protection and write protection range status, run the following commands. Note that the write protection range is independent from the software write protection status (if sw write protection is disabled, it means you can manipulate the protection range).

Disabling write protect

The typical sequence for disabling write protection is to disable hardware write protect, disable software write protect, and clear the write protection ranges.

Disabling hardware write protect

Write Protect Screw

Cr50

If you don't want to go through the CCD open process or don't have a suzyQ, you may be able to open the case and remove the battery to disable hardware write protect. For newer devices just removing the battery may not be enough, see also the guide for firmware unlock on 2023+ devices.

Servo Header

Servo when connected can override the native write protection (either using the write protect screw or the security element). For systems with a servo header:

In all cases, after the device is back up, verify that write protection is disabled by running crossystem wpsw_cur, it should now output 0.

Disabling software write protect

*** note NOTE: You cannot disable software write protect if hardware write protect is enabled.

Enabling write protect

Enabling hardware write protect

Hardware write protect can be controlled by 3 different mechanisms:

Write Protect Screw

For systems with a write-protect screw:

Cr50

For systems that use Cr50, you can control it on the device itself:

Or you can control it with a suzyQ:

Servo Header

Enabling software write protect

For AP firmware,

For EC firmware,