diff --git a/doc/tpm.md b/doc/tpm.md
index 90f7ec064..0b8709fac 100644
--- a/doc/tpm.md
+++ b/doc/tpm.md
@@ -330,6 +330,37 @@ counter passes preflight or the user chooses to continue.
 exit status of `tee` (always 0), not `tpmr.sh`. See
 [ux-patterns.md](ux-patterns.md#tpm-counter-patterns) for the correct pattern.
 
+### TPM1 counter auth
+
+TPM1 rollback counters use **empty auth** (`SHA1("")`) per the TCG
+specification (TPM Main Spec Part 3: `TPM_CreateCounter` uses owner
+auth `-pwdo`, but `TPM_IncrementCounter` uses the counter's own
+authData — not the owner password).
+
+A regression in PR #2068 changed `increment_tpm_counter` from
+hardcoded `-pwdc ''` to `-pwdc "${tpm_passphrase:-}"` (owner
+passphrase), while counters continued to be created with `-pwdc ''`.
+This caused every increment to compute SHA1(owner_pass) against a
+counter created with SHA1(""), producing persistent `TPM_AUTHFAIL`.
+
+The repeated auth failures (3 per boot) accumulated the TPM's
+dictionary attack (DA) failedTries counter until lockout was reached
+(~10 boots = 30 failures). Users reported "hours of waiting" on
+affected hardware. On some implementations, the DA state persisted
+through `tpm forceclear`.
+
+The fix (PR #2117):
+- `tpm1_counter_increment`: detect explicit `-pwdc ''` and call
+  `tpm counter_increment` directly, bypassing `_tpm_auth_retry`.
+  Non-empty `-pwdc` or absent flag falls through to the owner-auth
+  retry path for migration of counters created by pre-fix code.
+- `check_tpm_counter` and `increment_tpm_counter`: create and
+  increment counters with `-pwdc ''` instead of owner passphrase.
+- `oem-factory-reset.sh`: uses `-pwdc ''` for counter creation.
+
+TPM2 counters are unaffected — they still require owner auth for
+`tpm2 nvincrement`.
+
 ---
 
 ## TPM secret sealing internals (TPM2)
diff --git a/initrd/bin/oem-factory-reset.sh b/initrd/bin/oem-factory-reset.sh
index ece2f8f59..5dc315965 100755
--- a/initrd/bin/oem-factory-reset.sh
+++ b/initrd/bin/oem-factory-reset.sh
@@ -868,7 +868,7 @@ generate_checksums() {
 	if [ "$CONFIG_TPM" = "y" ]; then
 		if [ "$CONFIG_IGNORE_ROLLBACK" != "y" ]; then
 			tpmr.sh counter_create \
-				-pwdc "${TPM_PASS:-}" \
+				-pwdc '' \
 				-la -3135106223 |
 				tee /tmp/counter >/dev/null 2>&1 ||
 				whiptail_error_die "Unable to create TPM counter"
diff --git a/initrd/bin/tpmr.sh b/initrd/bin/tpmr.sh
index 46f4581d8..fec10c105 100755
--- a/initrd/bin/tpmr.sh
+++ b/initrd/bin/tpmr.sh
@@ -429,7 +429,8 @@ _tpm_auth_retry() {
 }
 
 # tpm1_counter_create - Create a TPM1 rollback counter.
-# Delegates to _tpm_auth_retry for passphrase-driven retry on auth failure.
+# Owner passphrase (via _tpm_auth_retry -pwdo) is required for NV_DefineSpace.
+# Callers pass -pwdc '' for empty counter auth per TCG spec.
 tpm1_counter_create() {
 	TRACE_FUNC
 	_tpm_auth_retry "counter_create" "stdout" "tpm1" "-pwdo" tpm counter_create "$@"
@@ -443,17 +444,35 @@ tpm1_counter_read() {
 
 # tpm1_counter_increment - Increment a TPM1 rollback counter.
 # Args: -ix <index> [ -pwdc <passphrase> ]
+#
+# Auth behaviour:
+#   -pwdc ''       : empty counter auth (SHA1 of ""), correct per TCG spec.
+#                    Calls tpm directly without retry — caller handles fallback.
+#   -pwdc <pass>   : owner passphrase auth via _tpm_auth_retry (migration).
+#   (no -pwdc)     : owner passphrase auth via _tpm_auth_retry (backward compat).
 tpm1_counter_increment() {
 	TRACE_FUNC
 	local counter_id=""
+	local pwdc_provided="n"
+	local pwdc_value=""
 	while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
 		case "$1" in
 			-ix) counter_id="$2"; shift 2 ;;
-			-pwdc) shift 2 ;;  # passphrase handled by _tpm_auth_retry
+			-pwdc) pwdc_provided="y"; pwdc_value="$2"; shift 2 ;;
 			*) shift ;;
 		esac
 	done
-	_tpm_auth_retry "counter_increment" "stdout" "tpm1" "-pwdc" tpm counter_increment -ix "$counter_id"
+	if [ "$pwdc_provided" = "y" ] && [ -z "$pwdc_value" ]; then
+		# Empty counter auth per TCG spec: this is the normal counter
+		# increment (no secret). Bypass _tpm_auth_retry because the
+		# empty string is intentional, not a user input error.
+		# Use || return so set -e doesn't kill the script on DA failure.
+		DEBUG "tpm1_counter_increment: empty auth, calling tpm directly"
+		tpm counter_increment -ix "$counter_id" -pwdc '' || return $?
+	else
+		_tpm_auth_retry "counter_increment" "stdout" "tpm1" "-pwdc" \
+			tpm counter_increment -ix "$counter_id"
+	fi
 }
 
 tpm2_counter_create() {
diff --git a/initrd/etc/functions.sh b/initrd/etc/functions.sh
index f9b0694fd..b3188563d 100644
--- a/initrd/etc/functions.sh
+++ b/initrd/etc/functions.sh
@@ -1848,7 +1848,8 @@ check_tpm_counter() {
 	TRACE_FUNC
 
 	LABEL=${2:-3135106223}
-	tpm_passphrase="$3"
+	# $3 (tpm_passphrase) was used by pre-PR #2068 code but is now intentionally
+	# ignored — counters are created with empty auth (-pwdc '') per TCG spec.
 	# if the /boot.hashes file already exists, read the TPM counter ID
 	# from it.
 	if [ -r "$1" ]; then
@@ -1857,12 +1858,8 @@ check_tpm_counter() {
 		DEBUG "Extracted TPM_COUNTER: '$TPM_COUNTER' from $1"
 	else
 		DEBUG "$1 does not exist - creating new TPM counter"
-		# Warn user: TPM Owner Passphrase is required to create a new TPM counter
-		if [ ! -s /tmp/secret/tpm_owner_passphrase ]; then
-			WARN "TPM Owner Passphrase is required to create a new TPM counter for /boot content rollback prevention"
-		fi
-
-		# attempt to make a new counter, capturing any stderr for debugging
+		# Create TPM counter with empty counter auth per TCG spec (no secret).
+		# Owner passphrase is not needed for the counter auth itself.
 		DEBUG "Invoking tpmr.sh counter_create with label $LABEL"
 		# run it, then record the exit status explicitly; the '!' operator
 		# cannot be used because it would hide the real return code.
@@ -1872,7 +1869,7 @@ check_tpm_counter() {
 		(
 			set +e
 			tpmr.sh counter_create \
-				-pwdc "${tpm_passphrase:-}" \
+				-pwdc '' \
 				-la "$LABEL" \
 				>/tmp/counter 2> >(tee >(SINK_LOG "tpm counter_create stderr") >&2)
 			echo $? > /tmp/counter_create_rc
@@ -2050,22 +2047,11 @@ increment_tpm_counter() {
 		counter_present="y"
 	fi
 
-	# Prefer explicit passphrase, otherwise reuse cached TPM owner passphrase.
+	# TPM2 uses owner-auth fallback in tpm2_counter_inc; TPM1 uses empty counter
+	# auth (SHA1("")) per TCG spec — no owner passphrase needed for increment.
+	# Keep the cached owner passphrase for TPM2 fallback.
 	if [ -z "$tpm_passphrase" ] && [ -s /tmp/secret/tpm_owner_passphrase ]; then
 		tpm_passphrase="$(cat /tmp/secret/tpm_owner_passphrase)"
-		DEBUG "increment_tpm_counter: using cached TPM owner passphrase"
-	fi
-
-	# TPM1 counter_increment requires owner auth in practice on this path.
-	# origin/master typically reached this with cached owner passphrase already set,
-	# but the newer reseal/update flows can call this later in the session after
-	# that cache is absent. Prompt once and cache to avoid empty -pwdc failures.
-	if [ "$CONFIG_TPM2_TOOLS" != "y" ] && [ -z "$tpm_passphrase" ]; then
-		WARN "TPM Owner Passphrase is required to update rollback counter before signing updated boot hashes."
-		DEBUG "increment_tpm_counter: TPM1 path has no cached/provided owner passphrase; prompting now"
-		prompt_tpm_owner_password
-		tpm_passphrase="$tpm_owner_passphrase"
-		DEBUG "increment_tpm_counter: TPM1 owner passphrase obtained and cached"
 	fi
 
 	# Try to increment the counter.  We normally hide the verbose
@@ -2094,7 +2080,7 @@ increment_tpm_counter() {
 			increment_ok="y"
 		fi
 	else
-		# TPM1 path uses owner auth in practice.
+		# TPM1 counter uses empty auth (SHA1 of "") per TCG spec.
 		# NOTE: tpmtotp C code prints ALL output (success + errors) to stdout.
 		# We must capture stdout to detect failures properly.
 		# DO_WITH_DEBUG internally captures the command's stderr (tee /dev/stderr
@@ -2104,7 +2090,7 @@ increment_tpm_counter() {
 		if (
 			set -o pipefail
 			DO_WITH_DEBUG --mask-position 5 \
-				tpmr.sh counter_increment -ix "$counter_id" -pwdc "${tpm_passphrase:-}" \
+				tpmr.sh counter_increment -ix "$counter_id" -pwdc '' \
 					2>/dev/null | tee /tmp/counter-"$counter_id" >/dev/null
 		); then
 			increment_ok="y"
@@ -2123,10 +2109,11 @@ increment_tpm_counter() {
 
 		# run counter_create but tee its stdout to a file so we still see
 		# the interactive prompt and any informational messages.
+		# Empty counter auth (-pwdc '') per TCG spec.
 		if (
 			set -o pipefail
 			DO_WITH_DEBUG --mask-position 3 \
-				tpmr.sh counter_create -pwdc "${tpm_passphrase:-}" -la 3135106223 \
+				tpmr.sh counter_create -pwdc '' -la 3135106223 \
 				2> >(tee >(SINK_LOG "tpm counter_create stderr") >&2) |
 				tee /tmp/new-counter >/dev/null
 		); then