The present embodiments relate to a secure boot partition for a cloud computing device of a cloud computing system. The computing device of the cloud computing system can transmit a first request for a pre-boot execution environment executable from a smart network interface card (SmartNIC). The computing device can receive the pre-boot environment executable from the SmartNIC and verify the pre-boot execution environment executable. The computing device can execute the pre-boot execution environment executable. Executing the pre-boot execution environment executable can include transmitting a second request secure boot metadata from the SmartNIC and receiving the secure boot metadata. Executing the pre-boot execution environment executable can further include mounting a boot partition, loading a boot loader obtained from the boot partition, verifying the boot loader based at least in part on the secure boot metadata, and executing the boot loader in response to verifying the boot loader.