Pyongyang night
Pyongyang Night
"A thousand CPUs went dark before dawn."
Pyongyang Night is an open-source OPSEC hardening project focused on disabling known Western surveillance backdoors ("Yankee daemons") in Intel and AMD CPUs. This includes Intel ME, AMD PSP, fTPM, and associated firmware-based threats. It offers guides and tools to permanently neutralize these subsystems and restore sovereignty to your machines.
What Problem Are We Solving?
Modern computers are compromised by design.
Intel and AMD CPUs ship with hidden, closed-source subsystems like the Intel Management Engine (ME) and AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP). These components run independently of the main operating system, have access to all your memory and devices, and can communicate over the network—even when your machine appears to be off.
These subsystems are not optional. They are embedded into the silicon and signed by their manufacturers. You cannot audit, control, or fully disable them using standard settings.
In short: these are built-in backdoors.
Pyongyang Night aims to:
- Identify and expose these hidden systems
- Provide tools and tutorials to disable or neutralize them
- Offer accessible, step-by-step guides even for users with minimal technical background
This project is about regaining digital sovereignty.
How We Solve It
We provide:
- Tools like me_cleaner to remove Intel ME firmware from your computer
- BIOS configuration guides to disable AMD’s fTPM and PSP features
- Full step-by-step instructions written for beginners
- Flashing guides to safely modify your system firmware
- Post-removal practices for maintaining a clean and secure system
We use only open-source tools, and explain:
- What each step does
- Why it matters
- What the risks are
- How to recover if something goes wrong
Whether you’re a paranoid sysadmin or just a normal user who doesn’t like the idea of a mystery microcontroller spying on you—this guide is for you.
How to Use me_cleaner
Step 1: Clone the tool
{{{git clone https://github.com/corna/me_cleaner.git}}} {{{cd me_cleaner}}}
Step 2: Backup your firmware
sudo flashrom -p internal -r backup.rom
This creates a backup of your motherboard firmware. Keep this file safe in case anything goes wrong.
Step 3: Run me_cleaner to disable Intel ME
python3 me_cleaner.py -S backup.rom -o cleaned.rom
The `-S` flag enables soft-disable (sets the HAP bit) in addition to removing unnecessary ME modules.
Step 4: Flash the cleaned firmware
sudo flashrom -p internal -w cleaned.rom
This writes the modified firmware to your system.
More Info: me_cleaner official documentation
Table of Contents
- Overview
- Intel: Removing the Management Engine (ME)
- AMD: Disabling the Platform Security Processor (PSP)
- Recommended Tools
- Post-Cleanup OPSEC Practices
- Contributions
Overview
Modern x86 systems ship with embedded management controllers that run below the OS level. These controllers—Intel ME and AMD PSP—have unrestricted access to memory, peripherals, and network devices. They are proprietary, closed-source, and required for "Secure Boot" and other platform lockdown mechanisms.
Project Pyongyang Night provides the tooling, documentation, and methods to carry out this operation on end-of-life or user-controlled systems.