Secure Boot: How Hardware Wallets Check Firmware
Secure boot uses cryptographic signature verification at startup to prevent malicious firmware from extracting your BIP39 seed phrase.
PDF document · Published · Updated
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Contents
- The Hardware Root of Trust and the Boot Sequence
- Cryptographic Signature Verification
- Defensive Handling of Unofficial Firmware
- Anti-Rollback Mechanisms and Seed Protection
- FAQ
- Sources
- Sample sequences of BIP39 words
- Reading a BIP39 phrase
- See also
- Keywords:
- secure boot · hardware wallet · firmware verification · root of trust · cryptographic signature
Guides on the same subject
- What Is a Hardware Wallet and How Does It Work? (Ledger, Trezor)
A hardware wallet keeps your private keys on a small device and signs each transaction after you confirm it on its screen. How it works and what it can't stop.
- Hardware Wallets Compared: Ledger, Trezor, Keystone and More
Ledger, Trezor, Keystone, COLDCARD, BitBox, Jade, Passport and Tangem compared: key chips, open firmware, screens, backups and coins, from makers' own specs.
- 12 vs 24 Word Seed Phrase: Which Is More Secure?
A 24-word seed phrase has 256 bits of entropy and a 12-word one 128, but both are beyond brute force; 24 words help mainly when part of a backup is exposed.
One of the documents in the Seed Phrase PDF Archive, listed on archive page 6.