SECURE INSTALLATION OF BASEBOARD MANAGEMENT CONTROLLER FIRMWARE VIA A PHYSICAL INTERFACE

A computing device includes circuitry that is configured to disable a physical interface between a baseboard management controller (BMC) and a processor when the BMC is not running and a logical interface between the BMC and the processor is not available. Disabling the physical interface prevents an attacker from writing malicious code to the BMC using the physical interface. The computing device also includes circuitry that enables the physical interface between the BMC and the processor in response to receiving a unique signal sequence from a trusted external entity. When firmware should be installed on the BMC, someone with proper authorization can cause the trusted external entity to send the unique signal sequence to the circuitry on the computing device, thereby enabling the physical interface between the BMC and the processor. The processor can then write the firmware to non-volatile memory within the BMC across the physical interface.