From 29c30249c30eeddb3f53eb7674c7f0033e10b764 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Philip Kannegaard Hayes <philiphayes9@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:23:13 +0900
Subject: [PATCH] aesmd: fix failure on first run and clean up old DCAP compat

On our prod machines, aesmd would always fail the first time after boot,
with logs like:
`XXX-copy-aesmd-data-files.sh[770]: chown: invalid user: 'aesmd:aesmd'`.
Everything would be fine after the next restart, but blocking boot for
15 seconds is definitely annoying.

It appears the issue was that we were trying to name the DynamicUser
User and Group (aesmd/aesmd) during ExecStartPre, but systemd only
creates these right before ExecStart. After playing around with the
ExecStartPre script, I finally got it to work correctly. As a bonus, we
can also re-add the RootDirectory/chroot hardening.

I've also cleaned out the config for the old out-of-tree isgx driver and
the old DCAP driver. The kernel has had in-kernel SGX support since 5.11
(~2021/02).
---
 nixos/modules/services/security/aesmd.nix | 56 +++++------------------
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 45 deletions(-)

diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/security/aesmd.nix b/nixos/modules/services/security/aesmd.nix
index d5ec33c0af6a..04bd3c4bb10c 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/security/aesmd.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/security/aesmd.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ let
     literalExpression
     makeLibraryPath
     mkEnableOption
-    mkForce
     mkIf
     mkOption
     mkPackageOption
@@ -129,11 +128,6 @@ in
 
     hardware.cpu.intel.sgx.provision.enable = true;
 
-    # Make sure the AESM service can find the SGX devices until
-    # https://github.com/intel/linux-sgx/issues/772 is resolved
-    # and updated in nixpkgs.
-    hardware.cpu.intel.sgx.enableDcapCompat = mkForce true;
-
     systemd.services.aesmd =
       let
         storeAesmFolder = "${sgx-psw}/aesm";
@@ -156,36 +150,17 @@ in
         }
         // cfg.environment;
 
-        # Make sure any of the SGX application enclave devices is available
-        unitConfig.AssertPathExists = [
-          # legacy out-of-tree driver
-          "|/dev/isgx"
-          # DCAP driver
-          "|/dev/sgx/enclave"
-          # in-tree driver
-          "|/dev/sgx_enclave"
-        ];
+        # Ensure the SGX application enclave device is available
+        unitConfig.AssertPathExists = [ "/dev/sgx_enclave" ];
 
         serviceConfig = {
-          ExecStartPre =
-            let
-              script = pkgs.writeShellScript "copy-aesmd-data-files.sh" ''
-                set -euo pipefail
-
-                # For some reason systemd 257+ won't properly bind mount the
-                # StateDirectory with the aesmd DynamicUser owning it
-                chown -R aesmd:aesmd /var/opt/aesmd
-
-                whiteListFile="${aesmDataFolder}/white_list_cert_to_be_verify.bin"
-                if [[ ! -f "$whiteListFile" ]]; then
-                  install -m 644 -o aesmd -g aesmd -D \
-                    "${storeAesmFolder}/data/white_list_cert_to_be_verify.bin" \
-                    "$whiteListFile"
-                fi
-              '';
-              # Run setup with elevated privileges
-            in
-            "+${script}";
+          # Run with elevated privileges to create /var/opt/aesmd/... before
+          # dropping to DynamicUser.
+          ExecStartPre = ''
+            +${lib.getExe' pkgs.coreutils "install"} -m 644 -D \
+                "${storeAesmFolder}/data/white_list_cert_to_be_verify.bin" \
+                "${aesmDataFolder}/white_list_cert_to_be_verify.bin"
+          '';
           ExecStart = "${sgx-psw}/bin/aesm_service --no-daemon";
           ExecReload = ''${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/kill -SIGHUP "$MAINPID"'';
 
@@ -208,12 +183,7 @@ in
 
           # --- Hardening ---
 
-          # NOTE(phlip9): Starting with systemd-v257, enabling both
-          #   `RootDirectory` (chroot) and `DynamicUser` prevents the service
-          #   from locating the `aesmd` user:
-          #   `XXX-copy-aesmd-data-files.sh: chown: invalid user: ‘aesmd:aesmd’`
-          # RootDirectory = "%t/aesmd";
-
+          RootDirectory = "%t/aesmd";
           BindReadOnlyPaths = [
             builtins.storeDir
             # Hardcoded path AESM_CONFIG_FILE in psw/ae/aesm_service/source/utils/aesm_config.cpp
@@ -229,10 +199,6 @@ in
           PrivateDevices = false;
           DevicePolicy = "closed";
           DeviceAllow = [
-            # legacy out-of-tree driver
-            "/dev/isgx rw"
-            # DCAP driver
-            "/dev/sgx rw"
             # in-tree driver
             "/dev/sgx_enclave rw"
             "/dev/sgx_provision rw"
@@ -244,7 +210,7 @@ in
           RestrictAddressFamilies = [
             # Allocates the socket /var/run/aesmd/aesm.socket
             "AF_UNIX"
-            # Uses the HTTP protocol to initialize some services
+            # Makes HTTPS requests to the Intel PCCS service (or a cache).
             "AF_INET"
             "AF_INET6"
           ];