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1 .TH me_cleaner 1 "JUNE 2018"
2 .SH me_cleaner
3 .PP
4 me_cleaner \- Tool for partial deblobbing of Intel ME/TXE firmware images
5 .SH SYNOPSIS
6 .PP
7 \fB\fCme_cleaner.py\fR [\-h] [\-v] [\-O output_file] [\-S | \-s] [\-r] [\-k]
8 [\-w whitelist | \-b blacklist] [\-d] [\-t] [\-c] [\-D output_descriptor]
9 [\-M output_me_image] \fIfile\fP
10 .SH DESCRIPTION
11 .PP
12 \fB\fCme_cleaner\fR is a tool able to disable parts of Intel ME/TXE by:
13 .RS
14 .IP \(bu 2
15 removing most of the code from its firmware
16 .IP \(bu 2
17 setting a special bit to force it to disable itself after the hardware
18 initialization
19 .RE
20 .PP
21 Using both the modes seems to be the most reliable way on many platforms.
22 .PP
23 The resulting modified firmware needs to be flashed (in most of the cases) with
24 an external programmer, often a dedicated SPI programmer or a Linux board with
25 a SPI master interface.
26 .PP
27 \fB\fCme_cleaner\fR works at least from Nehalem to Coffee Lake (for Intel ME) and on
28 Braswell/Cherry Trail (for Intel TXE), but may work as well on newer or
29 different architectures.
30 .PP
31 While \fB\fCme_cleaner\fR have been tested on a great number of platforms, fiddling
32 with the Intel ME/TXE firmware is \fIvery dangerous\fP and can easily lead to a
33 dead PC.
34 .PP
35 \fIYOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.\fP
36 .SH POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS
37 .TP
38 \fB\fCfile\fR
39 ME/TXE image or full dump.
40 .SH OPTIONAL ARGUMENTS
41 .TP
42 \fB\fC\-h\fR, \fB\fC\-\-help\fR
43 Show the help message and exit.
44 .TP
45 \fB\fC\-v\fR, \fB\fC\-\-version\fR
46 Show program's version number and exit.
47 .TP
48 \fB\fC\-O\fR, \fB\fC\-\-output\fR
49 Save the modified image in a separate file, instead of modifying the
50 original file.
51 .TP
52 \fB\fC\-S\fR, \fB\fC\-\-soft\-disable\fR
53 In addition to the usual operations on the ME/TXE firmware, set the
54 MeAltDisable bit or the HAP bit to ask Intel ME/TXE to disable itself after
55 the hardware initialization (requires a full dump).
56 .TP
57 \fB\fC\-s\fR, \fB\fC\-\-soft\-disable\-only\fR
58 Instead of the usual operations on the ME/TXE firmware, just set the
59 MeAltDisable bit or the HAP bit to ask Intel ME/TXE to disable itself after
60 the hardware initialization (requires a full dump).
61 .TP
62 \fB\fC\-r\fR, \fB\fC\-\-relocate\fR
63 Relocate the FTPR partition to the top of the ME region to save even more
64 space.
65 .TP
66 \fB\fC\-t\fR, \fB\fC\-\-truncate\fR
67 Truncate the empty part of the firmware (requires a separated ME/TXE image or
68 \fB\fC\-\-extract\-me\fR).
69 .TP
70 \fB\fC\-k\fR, \fB\fC\-\-keep\-modules\fR
71 Don't remove the FTPR modules, even when possible.
72 .TP
73 \fB\fC\-w\fR, \fB\fC\-\-whitelist\fR
74 Comma separated list of additional partitions to keep in the final image.
75 This can be used to specify the MFS partition for example, which stores PCIe
76 and clock settings.
77 .TP
78 \fB\fC\-b\fR, \fB\fC\-\-blacklist\fR
79 Comma separated list of partitions to remove from the image. This option
80 overrides the default removal list.
81 .TP
82 \fB\fC\-d\fR, \fB\fC\-\-descriptor\fR
83 Remove the ME/TXE Read/Write permissions to the other regions on the flash
84 from the Intel Flash Descriptor (requires a full dump).
85 .TP
86 \fB\fC\-D\fR, \fB\fC\-\-extract\-descriptor\fR
87 Extract the flash descriptor from a full dump; when used with \fB\fC\-\-truncate\fR
88 save a descriptor with adjusted regions start and end.
89 .TP
90 \fB\fC\-M\fR, \fB\fC\-\-extract\-me\fR
91 Extract the ME firmware from a full dump; when used with \fB\fC\-\-truncate\fR save a
92 truncated ME/TXE image.
93 .TP
94 \fB\fC\-c\fR, \fB\fC\-\-check\fR
95 Verify the integrity of the fundamental parts of the firmware and exit.
96 .SH SUPPORTED PLATFORMS
97 .PP
98 Currently \fB\fCme_cleaner\fR has been tested on the following platforms:
99 .TS
100 allbox;
101 cb cb cb cb
102 c c c c
103 c c c c
104 c c c c
105 c c c c
106 c c c c
107 c c c c
108 c c c c
109 c c c c
110 .
111 PCH CPU ME SKU
112 Ibex Peak Nehalem/Westmere 6.0 Ignition
113 Ibex Peak Nehalem/Westmere 6.x 1.5/5 MB
114 Cougar Point Sandy Bridge 7.x 1.5/5 MB
115 Panther Point Ivy Bridge 8.x 1.5/5 MB
116 Lynx/Wildcat Point Haswell/Broadwell 9.x 1.5/5 MB
117 Wildcat Point LP Broadwell Mobile 10.0 1.5/5 MB
118 Sunrise Point Skylake/Kabylake 11.x CON/COR
119 Union Point Kabylake 11.x CON/COR
120 .TE
121 .TS
122 allbox;
123 cb cb cb
124 c c c
125 .
126 SoC TXE SKU
127 Braswell/Cherry Trail 2.x 1.375 MB
128 .TE
129 .PP
130 All the reports are available on the project's GitHub page \[la]https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/issues/3\[ra]\&.
131 .SH EXAMPLES
132 .PP
133 Check whether the provided image has a valid structure and signature:
134 .IP
135 \fB\fCme_cleaner.py \-c dumped_firmware.bin\fR
136 .PP
137 Remove most of the Intel ME firmware modules but don't set the HAP/AltMeDisable
138 bit:
139 .IP
140 \fB\fCme_cleaner.py \-S \-O modified_me_firmware.bin dumped_firmware.bin\fR
141 .PP
142 Remove most of the Intel ME firmware modules and set the HAP/AltMeDisable bit,
143 disable the Read/Write access of Intel ME to the other flash region, then
144 relocate the code to the top of the image and truncate it, extracting a modified
145 descriptor and ME image:
146 .IP
147 \fB\fCme_cleaner.py \-S \-r \-t \-d \-D ifd_shrinked.bin \-M me_shrinked.bin \-O modified_firmware.bin full_dumped_firmware.bin\fR
148 .SH BUGS
149 .PP
150 Bugs should be reported on the project's GitHub page \[la]https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner\[ra]\&.
151 .SH AUTHOR
152 .PP
153 Nicola Corna \[la]nicola@corna.info\[ra]
154 .SH SEE ALSO
155 .PP
156 .BR flashrom (8),
157 me_cleaner's Wiki \[la]https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner/wiki\[ra]