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Intel platforms

Over the years and decades, Intel has developed many hardware platforms1.

Since the 4-bit 4004 in 1971, they have progressed over 8-bit up to 64-bit systems, retaining a lot of backwards compatibility. Starting with the ICH7 based platforms, Intel introduced their AMT (Active Management Technology)2, an out-of-band management solution3 for remote provisioning and support.

AMT evolved with more features over time, carrying the vPro label for machines targeting the business market4 and finally converging with more security features such as Boot Guard5, Intel's secure boot implementation, digital content protection (DRM), and more6.

Now running on a coprocessor called the (Converged Security and) Manageability Engine7, or (CS)ME for short, henceforth abbreviated as ME, a full second operating system of its own is backing the platform.

Boot flow

The ME has its own firmware and bootstraps an Intel platform8. The main x86 cores are held in reset until the ME releases them to boot with their own firmware.

Both the ME firmware and the main x86 firmware are stored in the same flash part on a mainboard, partitioned via the Intel Flash Descriptior (IFD).

The following diagram is based on knowledge from various sources, including the coreboot documentation on Intel.

The boot flow for trusted boot is documented publicly9 by Intel.

ME classification and security

Security researchers have analyzed the ME10 and divided hardware variants into 3 generations11 thus far, each with their own multiple firmware versions, including security patch releases1213. One core aspect in security research has been Boot Guard1415, which had been introduced with Haswell, Intel's 4th generation Core series platforms16, and discussed in the coreboot community17.

Note that the ME generations roughly correspond with the overall platform, in that ranges of Intel platforms are expected to carry a certain ME hardware generation and specific platforms a certain firmware version range. For example, Lenovo ThinkPad X270 laptops came with 6th/7th gen Intel Core processors, which means 3rd generation ME hardware and version 11.x.x.x ME firmware.

The following table is not necessarily correct nor complete, based on rough findings and notes on Wikipedia18.

Year Microarchitecture Chipset series Generation ME version
2015 Broadwell 5th 11.x.x.x
Skylake 10019 6th 11.x.x.x
2016
2017 Kaby Lake 20020 7th 11.5.x.x
Coffee Lake 8th 12.x.x.x
2018 Coffee Lake 30021 9th 12.x.x.x
2019
2020 Comet Lake 40022 10th 14.x.x.x
2021 Rocket Lake 11th 15.x.x.x
2022 Alder Lake 12th 15.x.x.x
2023 Raptor Lake 13th 15.x.x.x
Raptor Lake 14th 15.x.x.x
2024 Arrow Lake Series 2 15.x.x.x

Processor names

Intel publicly documents how to interpret procesor names23 and what their suffixes mean24.

Abbreviations

abbr. expansion
ACM Authenticated Code Module
AMT Active Management Technology
CSME Converged Security and Manageability Engine
DAL Dynamic Application Loader
FIT Firmware Interface Table
FPT Firmware Partition Table
HAP High-Assurance Platform
{I,M,P}CH {I/O,Memory,Platform} Controller Hub25
IFD Intel Flash Descriptor
LMS Local Manageability Service26
PTT Platform Trust Technology
RBE ROM Boot Extensions (part of ME firmware)
SPS Server Platform Services
TXE Trusted Execution Engine
TXT Trusted Execution Technology

Ambiguities

There are colliding acronyms, even within this domain. The following abbreviations have a second meaning:

  • FIT: Flash Image Tool (sometimes also called FITC)
  • FPT: Flash Programming Tool

Footnotes

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_processors ↩

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_AMT_versions ↩

  3. https://www.amplicon-usa.com/actions/viewDoc.cfm?doc=iAMT-white-paper.pdf ↩

  4. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/vpro/overview.html ↩

  5. https://edc.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/ipla/software-development-platforms/client/platforms/alder-lake-desktop/12th-generation-intel-core-processors-datasheet-volume-1-of-2/010/boot-guard-technology/ ↩

  6. https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/technologies/intel_amt_linux_enablement_guide_revision_1_1.pdf ↩

  7. https://i.blackhat.com/USA-19/Wednesday/us-19-Hasarfaty-Behind-The-Scenes-Of-Intel-Security-And-Manageability-Engine.pdf ↩

  8. https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/security-advisory/documents/intel-csme-security-white-paper.pdf ↩

  9. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/technical/software-security-guidance/resources/key-usage-in-integrated-firmware-images.html ↩

  10. https://bitkeks.eu/blog/2017/12/the-intel-management-engine.html ↩

  11. https://papers.put.as/papers/firmware/2014/2014-10_Breakpoint_Intel_ME_-_Two_Years_Later.pdf ↩

  12. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000029389/software/chipset-software.html?wapkw=csme ↩

  13. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000055675/technologies.html?wapkw=csme ↩

  14. https://prohoster.info/en/blog/administrirovanie/doverennaya-zagruzka-shryodingera-intel-boot-guard ↩

  15. https://github.com/flothrone/bootguard ↩

  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20201129154607/https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/product-briefs/4th-gen-core-family-mobile-brief.pdf ↩

  17. https://web.archive.org/web/20230322090345/https://patrick.georgi.family/2015/02/17/intel-boot-guard/ ↩

  18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_AMT_versions ↩

  19. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/90587/intel-q170-chipset/specifications.html ↩

  20. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/98088/intel-q270-chipset/specifications.html ↩

  21. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/133282/intel-q370-chipset/specifications.html ↩

  22. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/201836/intel-q470-chipset/specifications.html ↩

  23. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/processor-numbers.html ↩

  24. https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058567/processors/intel-core-processors.html ↩

  25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Hub_Architecture ↩

  26. https://web.archive.org/web/20070630000420/http://www.openamt.org/ ↩