Google Security Chip (GSC) Case Closed Debugging (CCD)

Cr50 is the firmware that runs on the Google Security Chip. It has support for Case Closed Debugging (CCD). This support is complete enough to replace servo. This doc explains how to setup CCD, so you can access all of the necessary features to develop firmware on your device or control different components. Please run through the basic setup steps before trying to flash the AP firmware. CCD could help recover your device if you flash broken firmware, but if you brick your device before setting up CCD, you may not be able to enable it.


Cr50 CCD was designed to restrict CCD access to device owners. There are CCD privilege levels that can be used to enable access to different CCD capabilities Open, Unlocked, Locked.

All CCD functionality has been assigned to different CCD capabilities. Capability settings can be modified to require certain privilege levels to access the each capability. Setting a capability requirement to IfOpened will require a level of Open to access that capability. A requirement of UnlessLocked will require the device to be Open or Unlocked to access the capability. Setting the requirement to Always will make the capability always accessible.

Owners can use these settings to customize the CCD so it is as open or restricted as they want.

CCD Capabilities

Cr50 is locked by default. Here are all of the Capabilities and their default settings.

UartGscRxAPTxAlwayscontrols reading from the AP console
UartGscTxAPRxAlwayscontrols writing to the AP console
UartGscRxECTxAlwayscontrols reading from the EC console
UartGscTxECRxIfOpenedcontrols writing to the EC console
FlashAPIfOpenedcontrols flashing the AP
FlashECIfOpenedcontrols flashing the EC
OverrideWPIfOpenedcontrols controlling write protect
RebootECAPIfOpenedcontrols rebooting the EC/AP from the cr50 console
GscFullConsoleIfOpenedcontrols access to restricted Cr50 console commands
UnlockNoRebootAlwayscontrols unlocking Cr50 without rebooting the AP
UnlockNoShortPPAlwayscontrols unlocking Cr50 without physical presence
OpenNoTPMWipeIfOpenedcontrols opening Cr50 without wiping the TPM
OpenNoLongPPIfOpenedcontrols opening Cr50 without physical presence
BatteryBypassPPAlwayscontrols opening cr50 without physical presence and dev mode if the battery is removed
UpdateNoTPMWipeAlwayscontrols updating cr50 without wiping the TPM
I2CIfOpenedcontrols access to the I2C master (used for measuring power)
FlashReadAlwayscontrols dumping a hash of the AP or EC flash
OpenNoDevModeIfOpenedcontrols opening cr50 without dev mode
OpenFromUSBIfOpenedcontrols opening cr50 from USB

CCD Setup

Some basic CCD functionality is accessible by default. There is read-only access to the EC console and read-write access to the AP console. There are some basic cr50 console commands you can run.

Cr50 CCD needs to be opened to access all CCD functionality or to modify capability settings so the device doesn't need to be open to access CCD functionality.


Cr50 needs to be newer than 0.3.9 or 0.4.9 to setup ccd. The 3 in the major version means it‘s a MP image and 0.4.X is a prePVT image. There aren’t many differences between the MP and prePVT versions of images. It is just a little easier to CCD open prePVT images. You can‘t run prePVT images on MP devices, so if you’re trying to update to .prepvt and it fails try using .prod.

  • Sync chroot to TOT (run repo sync in chromiumos directory) update servod and gsctool in chroot

      from chroot > sudo emerge hdctools ec-devutils servo-firmware
                chromeos-cr50 chromeos-cr50-scripts
  • Update servo v4 firmware

      from chroot > sudo servo_updater -b servo_v4
  • Ensure cr50 firmware is up to date. You can run these gsctool commands from the AP console or you can run them as root from inside the chroot if suzyq is connected.

    • If you're doing this from the AP, install a test image newer than M66.

    • check the cr50 version

            sudo gsctool -a -f
    • If the RW version is greater than 0.(3|4).9 then you don‘t need to update cr50. If it’s not, then you need to update cr50.

    • Update cr50.

            sudo gsctool -a /opt/google/cr50/firmware/
    • Check the cr50 version again to make sure it's now newer than 0.X.9

  • Ensure power isolation on servo v4

    • Plug USB-C power into servo v4 for dut pass though
    • Green LED will light up when plugged into DUT.

Basic Steps for CCD setup

  1. Use the general setup instructions to connect Suzy-Q and access the Cr50 console. The Cr50 console will be the lowest /dev/ttyUSB* device created by Cr50 or /dev/google/<device name>/serial/Shell

  2. Open CCD

  3. Modify capabilities to make it easier to open cr50 or access necessary capabilities - this step is optional, but the open state will be lost if cr50 reboots or the device loses power. If your use of CCD will possibly brick the device, it is recommended you modify the capability settings or set a ccd password, so you can reopen the device.

  4. Use CCD

Open CCD

The first cr50 image with CCD support was 0.3.9. If you are not running 0.3.9, you need to download the image and update cr50 from the AP or using Suzy-Q.

You can download the cr50 image and then flash cr50 using Suzy-Q from the chroot

from chroot > sudo gsctool cr50.r0.0.10.w0.3.9/

If you are only briefly using ccd and aren’t doing anything that may brick the device, you can probably just stick to opening cr50. The open state will be lost after cr50 reboot. If you don’t want to have to reopen cr50, you may want to setup the ccd capabilities so you can use them without needing cr50 to be open.

Standard Process (Requires Booting to Kernel)

If your device can boot, you can open Cr50 by entering dev mode and then sending the ccd open command from the kernel.

Enter dev mode

Entering dev mode has to be done manually. Using the gbb flags to force dev mode will not work.

  1. First, on a root shell on the device, check the force dev mode flag isn’t set GBB flags by running. If you can’t access the shell, because you aren’t in dev mode, then you’re fine. You can skip steps 1, 2, and 3.

    AP > /usr/share/vboot/bin/
  2. Clear 0x8 from the GBB flags and set the new value

    AP > /usr/share/vboot/bin/ $OLD_FLAG_VALUE & ~0x8
  3. Reboot the device

  4. Put the device into recovery mode

    • Tablets/Detachables - hold power button vol up and vol down for 10 seconds. Release and wait until the device boots into recovery
    • Clamshells/Convertibles - press power button escape refresh
    • Chromeboxes - Use a paperclip to press the recovery button while plugging in AC.
    • Using servo - If cr50 is open or you are using a flex cable you can, you can use dut-control power_state:rec
  5. Enable developer mode

    • Tablets/Detachables - After the device boots into recovery, press volume up and volume down at the same time to get to the enable dev mode menu. Use volume up button to navigate to “confirm disabling os verification” use the power button to select it
    • Clamshells/Convertibles - press ctrl+d on keyboard or AP console to select developer mode then enter to enable it.
    • Chromeboxes - Use a paper clip to press the dedicated recovery button
  6. Verify Cr50 knows the device is in dev mode. The TPM state will print dev_mode if cr50 knows the device is in dev mode. If it doesn’t say dev_mode, ccd open will fail. If you see “TPM: dev_mode” you are okay to CCD open now. If you don’t see TPM: dev_mode, recheck the gbb flags to make sure they aren’t forcing dev mode. Retry the manual entry of dev mode.

    cr50 > ccd
          State: Locked
          Password: none
          Flags: 0x000001
          Capabilities: 0000000000000000
          UartGscRxAPTx   Y 0=Default (Always)
          UartGscTxAPRx   Y 0=Default (Always)
          UartGscRxECTx   Y 0=Default (Always)
          UartGscTxECRx   - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          FlashAP         - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          FlashEC         - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          OverrideWP      - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          RebootECAP      - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          GscFullConsole  - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          UnlockNoReboot  Y 0=Default (Always)
          UnlockNoShortPP Y 0=Default (Always)
          OpenNoTPMWipe   - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          OpenNoLongPP    - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          BatteryBypassPP Y 0=Default (Always)
          UpdateNoTPMWipe Y 0=Default (Always)
          I2C             - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          FlashRead       Y 0=Default (Always)
          OpenNoDevMode   - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          OpenFromUSB     - 0=Default (IfOpened)
          TPM: dev_mode                         <==== This is the important part
          Use 'ccd help' to print subcommands
Run ccd open

You can start the open process from the AP. Once you start the process, you will need to press the power button when prompted open cr50.

  1. Start the ccd open process from the AP.

     AP shell > gsctool -a -o
  2. Over the next 5 minutes you will be prompted to tap the power button.

  3. After the process is finished, use ‘ccd’ on the cr50 console to verify the state is open

The Open setting will be lost whenever cr50 reboots. Make sure to setup ccd so you will be able to recover the device even if Open is lost. To open cr50 you need access to the AP. If your debugging will make the AP inaccessible and you want to ensure that you can recover the device, you either need to modify the capability settings so you can access the capabilities necessary to recover the device while cr50 is locked or you need to modify the capabilities so you don't need the AP to open cr50.

If you need to reflash the AP or EC, you can set the FlashEC or FlashAP capabilities to Always.

If you want to be able to open cr50 without the AP, set OpenNoDevMode and OpenFromUSB to Always.

CCD Open Without Booting the Device

If you can’t boot the device, you won’t be able to enter dev mode and send the open command from the AP. You will need to follow some non-standard methods to open the device. If you have enabled ccd before, cr50 may be configured in a way that you can still open cr50. If you haven't setup CCD before, you will need to remove the battery to enable CCD.

Can remove the Battery

If you can remove the battery, you can bypass the AP command/dev mode requirements. ccd open is allowed from the console if FWMP doesn’t disable ccd and the battery is disconnected. This is the most universal method and will work even if you haven’t enabled ccd before. Some devices are glued shut if you can’t/don’t want to unglue your device do not rely on this method. Setup ccd correctly before flashing the AP/EC.

  1. Disconnect the battery

  2. Send ‘ccd open’ from the cr50 console.

CCD testlab is enabled

You can check if testlab is enabled cr50 from the console.

cr50 > ccd testlab
        CCD test lab mode enabled

If it’s enabled, you can open cr50 from the console without physical presence.

cr50 > ccd testlab open
OpenNoDevMode and OpenFromUSB are set to Always

This requires >=0.3.10. If these capabilities are set, you will be able to open cr50 from the console without dev mode.

cr50 > ccd open
CCD Password is Set

You can run ccd open with the password to open from the console.

cr50 > ccd open $PASSWORD

Configure CCD

Cr50 capabilities allow you to configure CCD to restrict or open the device as much as you want. You can use the ccd command to check and modify the capabilities. Cr50 has to be open to change the capabilities. Setting capabilities you want to use to Always will make them accessible even if cr50 loses the open state. If you are using capabilities that may cause cr50 to reboot or may brick the device, you should set the capabilities needed to recover the device to Always or setup the capabilities so you can open cr50 without booting the device.

Basic ccd functionality is covered by UartGscTxECRx, UartGscRxECTx, UartGscTxAPRx, UartGscRxAPTx, FlashAP, FlashEC, OverrideWP, and GscFullConsole.

You can go through the capability descriptions and figure out which ccd capabilities you want to use. After you figure that out you can modify the capabilities to Always be accessible.

> ccd set $CAP $REQ

For example if the EC console needs to be read-write even when Cr50 is locked set the capability to Always.

> ccd set UartGscTxECRx Always

If you want to restrict capabilities more you can set them to IfOpened. If you don’t want the AP/EC uart to be accessible at all when cr50 is locked, you can set them all to IfOpened.

Restrict EC

> ccd set UartGscTxECRx IfOpened
> ccd set UartGscRxECTx IfOpened

Restrict AP

> ccd set UartGscTxAPRx IfOpened
> ccd set UartGscRxAPTx IfOpened

If you want things as accessible as possible and want all capabilities to be Always, you can run

> ccd reset factory

This will also permanently disable write protect. To reset write protect run

> wp follow_batt_pres atboot

To reset capabilities to Default run

> ccd reset

Enable Open Without Requiring Device to Boot

By default Cr50 requires enabling dev mode before you can open the device and the open command has to be sent from the AP. You can change the capabilities to remove these requirements if you think your development may prevent the device from booting. You can also set the ccd password to get around these requirements. These options offer different pros and cons. You can decide which is best for you.

Set Capabilities

After opening cr50, you can set these capabilities to reduce the restrictions required to open cr50.

> ccd set OpenFromUSB Always
> ccd set OpenNoDevMode Always
CCD Password

A ccd password can also be used to get around the open restrictions. The password will be required to reopen or unlock cr50, so keep track of the password. It can't be reset unless cr50 is open, so if you forget it, nothing can be done to reopen cr50.

Set Password

Run the gsctool command and enter the password when prompted. It will prompt for the password twice.

from ap shell > gsctool -a -P

You can use the ccd command to check if the password is set.

cr50 > ccd
       Password: [none|set]
Clear Password

You can clear the password by opening cr50 and then running the gsctool command agatin. When prompted for the password enter clear:$PASSWORD at both prompts.

You can also use the cr50 ccd reset command when cr50 is open. This will clear the password and reset all ccd capabilities to default.

Use Password

After the password has been set you can use it to run ccd commands from the cr50 console.

cr50 > ccd open $PASSWORD
cr50 > ccd unlock $PASSWORD

You can use it from the AP shell

cr50 > gsctool -a -o
cr50 > gsctool -a -u

enter the password when prompted

Using CCD


Cr50 only enables ccd when it detects a debug accessory is connected. It detects the cable based on the voltages on the CC lines. If you are flashing the EC and AP, these cc voltages may become unreliable for detecting a debug accessory. You can use a cr50 command to tell cr50 to ignore the voltages on these cc lines and just keep ccd enabled. There are many things that could interfere with rdd, so it’s probably best to run this before doing anything else using ccd.

cr50 > rddkeepalive enable

This command is useful for making sure ccd stays enabled during debugging. It will increase cr50 power a lot when the debug cable is disconnected. If you’re worried about that, disable rddkeepalive when you're not using ccd.

cr50 > rddkeepalive disable


Cr50 presents 3 consoles through CCD. It has the AP, EC, and Cr50 console. The AP and EC consoles can be restricted using the 4 ccd uart capabilities UartGscRxAPTx, UartGscTxAPRx, UartGscRxECTx, UartGscTxECRx. The default setup is the AP is read write. The EC is read only. Cr50 console input/output can’t be suppressed.  You can only use the GscFullConsole capability to enable restricted console commands.

Cr50 will create 3 /dev/ttyUSBX devices. They’re the cr50, AP, and EC console. The cr50 console normally has the lowest number. The AP and EC are the other two. You can figure out which one is which by pressing the power button or rebooting the device and looking at the uart output. If you have a bunch of devices, you can unplug suzyq and see which devices disappear to figure out the relevant ones.

Servo can also figure this out for you. You can start servo like you normally do

chroot > sudo servod -b $BOARD

After starting servo, you can use dut-control to get the consoles

chroot > dut-control cr50_uart_pty ec_uart_pty cpu_uart_pty

Flashing EC

This is restricted by the FlashEC capability. This must be accessible to flash the EC.

The steps to flash the EC differ a lot based on what board you’re using. You should stick to using flash_ec to handle flashing the ec, because the steps can get pretty complicated and are board specific.

You will need to start servod then flash_ec will handle sending the correct cr50 console commands and updating the EC.

chroot > sudo servod -b $BOARD
chroot > ~/trunk/src/platform/ec/util/flash_ec -i $IMAGE -b $BOARD

Flashing the AP

This is restricted by the FlashAP capability. This must be accessible to flash the AP.

Flashing the AP is standard across boards.

chroot > sudo flashrom -p raiden_debug_spi:target=AP -w $IMAGE

If you have a lot of ccd devices plugged in, you may want to use the cr50 serialname. You can get this by running

chroot > lsusb -vd 18d1:5014 | grep iSer

You can add the serialname to the flashrom command using

chroot > sudo flashrom -p raiden_debug_spi:target=AP,serial=$SERIAL -w $IMAGE

If you don’t see cr50 print any messages when you’re running the flashrom command, you probably need to use the serialname.

WP control

This is restricted by the OverrideWP capability. If this capability is accessible, you can use the cr50 wp command. If it's not, you can only control write protect using battery presence.

WP console command

You can use the cr50 console command to change the write protect settings.

There are three write protect settings: forced enabled, forced disabled, follow_batt_pres.

  • follow_batt_pres - DEFAULT SETTING - use battery presence to determine the write protect setting. If the battery is connected, enable write protect. If the battery is disconnected, disable write protect. If the board doesn’t have a battery, then normally a screw is used. If the screw is present, enable wp. If it’s not, disable wp.

  • enabled - enable write protect no matter the state of the battery. Protect things like the AP/EC flash and various other components that use this write protect signal

  • disabled - write protect is deasserted no matter the state of the battery. You’ll be able to modify things like AP RO

You can set these from the cr50 console

cr50 > wp [enable|disable|follow_batt_pres]

This setting will persist until it is cleared using the wp command or until cr50 reboots/loses power. After these resets, cr50 will default to the atboot setting. The default setting is follow_batt_pres, so cr50 will go back to following battery presence after reboot unless the atboot setting has been overridden.

Using the atboot arg will update the current and atboot wp state. If the atboot arg is given to the wp command, then the setting will persist until it is cleared by the wp command. It won’t be reset by anything else, so if you only want to disable/enable write protect for a short time, make sure atboot is set to follow_batt_pres. If you want to permanently disable or enable write protect and want to ignore the battery, this is a good setting to update.

cr50 > wp [enable|disable|follow_batt_pres]

You can use the wp command to get the write protect state even if the capability is restricted.

    cr50 > wp

           Flash WP: [forced ]enabled|disabled
             atboot: forced enabled | force disabled | follow_batt_pres

Gsctool also supports getting the write protect state

AP > gsctool -a -W

The output will show the current and atboot setting.

The current wp setting will not explicitly show that write protect is currently following battery presence. You have to get this by checking if the wp state is ‘forced’ enabled/disabled. Forced means write protect is being overridden by the console command. If it just shows the state without forced, write protect is following battery presence.

The atboot setting shows what the wp state will reset to after reboot.

Battery Presence

If the OverriedWP command isn’t accessible, you can use battery presence to change the wp state as long as the wp setting is still follow_batt_pres.

  • wp disable - disconnect the battery

  • wp enable - connect the battery

If the wp setting has been overridden by ccd, this won’t work until the current wp setting is reset to follow_batt_pres

cr50 > wp follow_batt_pres atboot

HW WP quirks


Chromeboxes do not have batteries, so cr50 can't use battery presence for write protect. They use a write protect screw. You need to remove the write protect screw to disable write protect if cr50 is set to follow_batt_pres.


Bob‘s have a write protect screw in addition to battery presence. The write protect screw will force enable write protect until it’s removed. If cr50 is set to follow_batt_pres, you need to remove the write protect screw and disconnect the battery to disable write protect. If you run wp disable, you will also need to remove the screw.

CCD as a Servo replacement

Once cr50 is open and all capabilities have been set to Always, cr50 should be able to be used as a servo replacement. It has all of the capabilities servo does and support has been added to hdctools to convert servo controls to cr50 and ec console commands.

If you start servod and select the ccd device, you should be able to use servo dut-control comands normally.

chroot > sudo servod -b $BOARD

If cr50 reboots or usb disconnects for some reason, servod will lose the connection to the cr50 usb. Support has just been added to hdctools to reinitialize all of the servo ccd interfaces, so things should come back up after the disconnect, but it might still have bugs.

Servo can take care of a lot of the less intuitive things for you like during init it will send rddkeepalive enable. It will also find the AP, EC, and Cr50 uart. Servod knows how to interact with the i2c endpoint, so you can use servod to read power from the INAs if they’re populated.

Suzyq doesn’t have all of the necessary things to replace servo for FAFT, but you should be able to use it for normal debugging functionality. You will need a type c servo v4 for ccd if you need to run FAFT.