Provided by: tpm2-tools_5.6-1build4_amd64 
NAME
tpm2_policypcr(1) - Create a policy that includes specific PCR values.
SYNOPSIS
tpm2_policypcr [OPTIONS]
DESCRIPTION
tpm2_policypcr(1) - Generates a PCR policy event with the TPM. A PCR policy event creates a policy bound
to specific PCR values and is useful within larger policies constructed using policyor and policyautho‐
rize events. See tpm2_policyor(1) and tpm2_policyauthorize(1) respectively for their usages. The PCR
data factored into the policy can be specified in one of 3 ways: 1. A file containing a concatenated
list of PCR values as in the output from tpm2_pcrread. 2. Requiring the PCR values be read off the TPM
by not specifying a PCR file input. 3. The digest of all the PCR values directly specified as an argu‐
ment.
OPTIONS
• -L, --policy=FILE:
File to save the policy digest.
• -f, --pcr=FILE:
Optional Path or Name of the file containing expected PCR values for the specified index. Default is
to read the current PCRs per the set list.
• -l, --pcr-list=PCR:
The list of PCR banks and selected PCRs’ ids for each bank. Forward sealing values can be specified.
• -S, --session=FILE:
The policy session file generated via the -S option to tpm2_startauthsession(1).
• ARGUMENT: The calculated digest of all PCR values specified as a hex byte stream. Eg: openssl dgst
-sha256 -binary pcr.bin | xxd -p -c 32
References
Context Object Format
The type of a context object, whether it is a handle or file name, is determined according to the follow‐
ing logic in-order:
• If the argument is a file path, then the file is loaded as a restored TPM transient object.
• If the argument is a prefix match on one of:
• owner: the owner hierarchy
• platform: the platform hierarchy
• endorsement: the endorsement hierarchy
• lockout: the lockout control persistent object
• If the argument argument can be loaded as a number it will be treat as a handle, e.g. 0x81010013 and
used directly._OBJECT_.
Authorization Formatting
Authorization for use of an object in TPM2.0 can come in 3 different forms: 1. Password 2. HMAC 3.
Sessions
NOTE: “Authorizations default to the EMPTY PASSWORD when not specified”.
Passwords
Passwords are interpreted in the following forms below using prefix identifiers.
Note: By default passwords are assumed to be in the string form when they do not have a prefix.
String
A string password, specified by prefix “str:” or it’s absence (raw string without prefix) is not inter‐
preted, and is directly used for authorization.
Examples
foobar
str:foobar
Hex-string
A hex-string password, specified by prefix “hex:” is converted from a hexidecimal form into a byte array
form, thus allowing passwords with non-printable and/or terminal un-friendly characters.
Example
hex:1122334455667788
File
A file based password, specified be prefix “file:” should be the path of a file containing the password
to be read by the tool or a “-” to use stdin. Storing passwords in files prevents information leakage,
passwords passed as options can be read from the process list or common shell history features.
Examples
# to use stdin and be prompted
file:-
# to use a file from a path
file:path/to/password/file
# to echo a password via stdin:
echo foobar | tpm2_tool -p file:-
# to use a bash here-string via stdin:
tpm2_tool -p file:- <<< foobar
Sessions
When using a policy session to authorize the use of an object, prefix the option argument with the ses‐
sion keyword. Then indicate a path to a session file that was created with tpm2_startauthsession(1).
Optionally, if the session requires an auth value to be sent with the session handle (eg policy pass‐
word), then append a + and a string as described in the Passwords section.
Examples
To use a session context file called session.ctx.
session:session.ctx
To use a session context file called session.ctx AND send the authvalue mypassword.
session:session.ctx+mypassword
To use a session context file called session.ctx AND send the HEX authvalue 0x11223344.
session:session.ctx+hex:11223344
PCR Authorizations
You can satisfy a PCR policy using the “pcr:” prefix and the PCR minilanguage. The PCR minilanguage is
as follows: <pcr-spec>=<raw-pcr-file>
The PCR spec is documented in in the section “PCR bank specifiers”.
The raw-pcr-file is an optional argument that contains the output of the raw PCR contents as returned by
tpm2_pcrread(1).
PCR bank specifiers
Examples
To satisfy a PCR policy of sha256 on banks 0, 1, 2 and 3 use a specifier of:
pcr:sha256:0,1,2,3
specifying AUTH.
PCR Bank Specifiers
PCR Bank Selection lists follow the below specification:
<BANK>:<PCR>[,<PCR>] or <BANK>:all
multiple banks may be separated by `+'.
For example:
sha1:3,4+sha256:all
will select PCRs 3 and 4 from the SHA1 bank and PCRs 0 to 23 from the SHA256 bank.
Certain commands support specifying forward sealing values as well:
sha1:0,1=da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709,2
This will select the current values for PCRs 0 and 2, but use the specified value for PCR 1. Digest
lengths must match the bank size. An optional 0x prefix will be stripped off.
Note
PCR Selections allow for up to 5 hash to pcr selection mappings. This is a limitation in design in the
single call to the tpm to get the pcr values. PCR.
COMMON OPTIONS
This collection of options are common to many programs and provide information that many users may ex‐
pect.
• -h, --help=[man|no-man]: Display the tools manpage. By default, it attempts to invoke the manpager for
the tool, however, on failure will output a short tool summary. This is the same behavior if the “man”
option argument is specified, however if explicit “man” is requested, the tool will provide errors from
man on stderr. If the “no-man” option if specified, or the manpager fails, the short options will be
output to stdout.
To successfully use the manpages feature requires the manpages to be installed or on MANPATH, See
man(1) for more details.
• -v, --version: Display version information for this tool, supported tctis and exit.
• -V, --verbose: Increase the information that the tool prints to the console during its execution. When
using this option the file and line number are printed.
• -Q, --quiet: Silence normal tool output to stdout.
• -Z, --enable-errata: Enable the application of errata fixups. Useful if an errata fixup needs to be
applied to commands sent to the TPM. Defining the environment TPM2TOOLS_ENABLE_ERRATA is equivalent.
information many users may expect.
TCTI Configuration
The TCTI or “Transmission Interface” is the communication mechanism with the TPM. TCTIs can be changed
for communication with TPMs across different mediums.
To control the TCTI, the tools respect:
1. The command line option -T or --tcti
2. The environment variable: TPM2TOOLS_TCTI.
Note: The command line option always overrides the environment variable.
The current known TCTIs are:
• tabrmd - The resource manager, called tabrmd (https://github.com/tpm2-software/tpm2-abrmd). Note that
tabrmd and abrmd as a tcti name are synonymous.
• mssim - Typically used for communicating to the TPM software simulator.
• device - Used when talking directly to a TPM device file.
• none - Do not initalize a connection with the TPM. Some tools allow for off-tpm options and thus sup‐
port not using a TCTI. Tools that do not support it will error when attempted to be used without a TC‐
TI connection. Does not support ANY options and MUST BE presented as the exact text of “none”.
The arguments to either the command line option or the environment variable are in the form:
<tcti-name>:<tcti-option-config>
Specifying an empty string for either the <tcti-name> or <tcti-option-config> results in the default be‐
ing used for that portion respectively.
TCTI Defaults
When a TCTI is not specified, the default TCTI is searched for using dlopen(3) semantics. The tools will
search for tabrmd, device and mssim TCTIs IN THAT ORDER and USE THE FIRST ONE FOUND. You can query what
TCTI will be chosen as the default by using the -v option to print the version information. The “de‐
fault-tcti” key-value pair will indicate which of the aforementioned TCTIs is the default.
Custom TCTIs
Any TCTI that implements the dynamic TCTI interface can be loaded. The tools internally use dlopen(3),
and the raw tcti-name value is used for the lookup. Thus, this could be a path to the shared library, or
a library name as understood by dlopen(3) semantics.
TCTI OPTIONS
This collection of options are used to configure the various known TCTI modules available:
• device: For the device TCTI, the TPM character device file for use by the device TCTI can be specified.
The default is /dev/tpm0.
Example: -T device:/dev/tpm0 or export TPM2TOOLS_TCTI=“device:/dev/tpm0”
• mssim: For the mssim TCTI, the domain name or IP address and port number used by the simulator can be
specified. The default are 127.0.0.1 and 2321.
Example: -T mssim:host=localhost,port=2321 or export TPM2TOOLS_TCTI=“mssim:host=localhost,port=2321”
• abrmd: For the abrmd TCTI, the configuration string format is a series of simple key value pairs sepa‐
rated by a `,' character. Each key and value string are separated by a `=' character.
• TCTI abrmd supports two keys:
1. `bus_name' : The name of the tabrmd service on the bus (a string).
2. `bus_type' : The type of the dbus instance (a string) limited to `session' and `system'.
Specify the tabrmd tcti name and a config string of bus_name=com.example.FooBar:
\--tcti=tabrmd:bus_name=com.example.FooBar
Specify the default (abrmd) tcti and a config string of bus_type=session:
\--tcti:bus_type=session
NOTE: abrmd and tabrmd are synonymous. the various known TCTI modules.
EXAMPLES
Starts a trial session, builds a PCR policy and uses that policy in the creation of an object. Then, it
uses a policy session to unseal some data stored in the object.
Step 1: create a policy
tpm2_createprimary -C e -g sha256 -G ecc -c primary.ctx
tpm2_pcrread -o pcr.dat "sha1:0,1,2,3"
tpm2_startauthsession -S session.dat
tpm2_policypcr -S session.dat -l "sha1:0,1,2,3" -f pcr.dat -L policy.dat
tpm2_flushcontext session.dat
Step 2: create an object using that policy
tpm2_create -Q -u key.pub -r key.priv -C primary.ctx -L policy.dat \
-i- <<< "12345678"
tpm2_load -C primary.ctx -u key.pub -r key.priv -n unseal.key.name \
-c unseal.key.ctx
Step 3: Satisfy the policy
tpm2_startauthsession --policy-session -S session.dat
tpm2_policypcr -S session.dat -l "sha1:0,1,2,3" -f pcr.dat -L policy.dat
Step 4: Use the policy
tpm2_unseal -psession:session.dat -c unseal.key.ctx
12345678
tpm2_flushcontext session.dat
Returns
Tools can return any of the following codes:
• 0 - Success.
• 1 - General non-specific error.
• 2 - Options handling error.
• 3 - Authentication error.
• 4 - TCTI related error.
• 5 - Non supported scheme. Applicable to tpm2_testparams.
Limitations
It expects a session to be already established via tpm2_startauthsession(1) and requires one of the fol‐
lowing:
• direct device access
• extended session support with tpm2-abrmd.
Without it, most resource managers will not save session state between command invocations.
BUGS
Github Issues (https://github.com/tpm2-software/tpm2-tools/issues)
HELP
See the Mailing List (https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/tpm2)
tpm2-tools tpm2_policypcr(1)