tpm_tis: a TPM error occurred attempting to read a PCR value

[jwhendy]

I recently started getting the same error in Arch Linux and am not sure what happened. This is on a work computer, separate drive, so I can't disable TPM via the BIOS like various reports suggest. The error from dmesg that flashes right after I initiate the boot:

$ dmesg |grep -i tpm
[ 4.907466] tpm_tis 00:07: 1.2 TPM (device-id 0x1A, rev-id 16)
[ 5.219488] tpm_tis 00:07: TPM is disabled/deactivated (0x7)
[ 5.331494] tpm_tis 00:07: A TPM error (7) occurred attempting to read a pcr value
[ 5.331538] ima: No TPM chip found, activating TPM-bypass!

The same bug appears to have been reported more than a year ago:
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1427860

It's frustrating to see users were to submit their own separate reports, at least one appears to have done so, and then the bug expires due to 60 days of no activity. It looks to still be an issue. I started experiencing the same thing on Arch recently but they don't build tpm_tis into the kernel so I can blacklist the modules.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: linux-image-4.4.0-31-generic 4.4.0-31.50
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-31.50-generic 4.4.13
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-31-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.1
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC1: jwhendy 4283 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC0: jwhendy 4283 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sat Feb 11 10:52:33 2017
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-02-11 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20160719)
MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP ZBook 15 G2
ProcFB:
 0 nouveaufb
 1 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=../vmlinuz-4.4.0-31-generic root=UUID=80262d8f-fc26-45a7-ad8d-1a5bad414250 ro rootflags=compress=lzo,discard,ssd,subvol=hostname luks.allow=discards quiet splash $vt_handoff initrd=../initrd.img-4.4.0-31-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-4.4.0-31-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-4.4.0-31-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.157.2
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 04/13/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.bios.version: M70 Ver. 80.08
dmi.board.name: 2253
dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.board.version: KBC Version 03.10
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnHewlett-Packard:bvrM70Ver.80.08:bd04/13/2015:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPZBook15G2:pvrA3009DD10303:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn2253:rvrKBCVersion03.10:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvr:
dmi.product.name: HP ZBook 15 G2
dmi.product.version: A3009DD10303
dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v4.10 kernel[0].

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.10-rc8

[jwhendy (jw-hendy)]

Sounds good. Give me couple more days. I'm on 4.9.8 with Arch and it has the same issue, but I'll try 4.10 to see what happens (on Xenial). Thanks for looking into it and the suggestion.

[jwhendy (jw-hendy)]

Assuming I did everything correctly (installed headers_all, headers_amd64, and linux-generic_amd64 from your link:

$ uname -a
Linux roboxenial 4.10.0-041000rc8-generic #201702121731 SMP Sun Feb 12 22:33:33 UTC 2017 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ dmesg |grep -i tpm
[ 8.286976] tpm_tis 00:07: 1.2 TPM (device-id 0x1A, rev-id 16)
[ 8.702956] tpm tpm0: A TPM error (7) occurred attempting to read a pcr value
[ 8.702987] tpm tpm0: TPM is disabled/deactivated (0x7)
[ 8.842953] tpm tpm0: A TPM error (7) occurred attempting to read a pcr value
[ 8.842996] ima: No TPM chip found, activating TPM-bypass! (rc=7)

Showing that they're still compiled in, so there's no way to stop this:

jwhendy@roboxenial:~$ lsmod |grep -i tpm
tpm_infineon 20480 0
jwhendy@roboxenial:~$ lsmod |grep -i tis

On Arch I blacklist tpm_tis and that does it.

[charly4711 (karl-h-beckers)]

I'm getting this on an admittedly old Toshiba Tecra M9 which supposedly _does_ have an infineon TPM chip. And although tpm_version shows a chip of vendor id IFX to be present and there's a device, trousers or the tpm-tools always claim the device is disabled (after log entries as per OP). /sys/class/tmp/tpm0/device/temp_deactivated has a value of 1 and tpm_infineon is loaded as a module on top of the tpm_tis compiled into the kernel.

I _hope_ _not_ loading tpm_tis would make the chip work with the older tpm_infineon module, but at least (if that doesn't work) loading tpm_tis as a module would allow me to blacklist it and not get the error message.