On: AMD's Turin: 5th Gen EPYC Launched

[sph]

They sell this vendor lock-in "feature" as enhanced security?

[Uvix → sph]

Yes. It keeps the board from booting if the firmware is replaced with a version not signed by the board manufacturer (i.e. so an attacker can’t replace it with a version that does nefarious things). Preventing CPU reuse in other boards is just an (unintentional?) side effect.

[kjs3 → Uvix]

The cynic would say the security implications are the side effect, since selling more, new chips is the goal.

[Uvix → kjs3]

If that was the goal then the CPU would fuse on first boot for any manufacturer’s board, rather than being fused only by Dell boards.