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Method and integrated circuit for detecting reverse engineering on processor using instruction pointers

An instruction pointer, integrated circuit technology, applied in the field of microelectronics

Pending Publication Date: 2022-06-21
STMICROELECTRONICS (GRENOBLE 2) SAS +1
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Additionally, it would be helpful to make detection and response solutions challenging for detections that complicate the development of possible workarounds

Method used

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  • Method and integrated circuit for detecting reverse engineering on processor using instruction pointers
  • Method and integrated circuit for detecting reverse engineering on processor using instruction pointers
  • Method and integrated circuit for detecting reverse engineering on processor using instruction pointers

Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0048] figure 1 A block diagram of an embodiment microcontroller (PE) is shown during a "Linear Code Extraction" (LCE) type of reverse engineering attempt. The microcontroller (PE) shown comprises a processor (CPU) connected via a data bus (B) to at least one memory MEM1, MEMn. For simplicity, the memory will be used to designate at least one of the memories MEM1 , . . . , MEMn.

[0049] A processor (CPU) includes a controller circuit (UC) and a circuit (IDEX) for decoding and executing instructions. In an embodiment, the controller circuit (UC) includes an fetch address circuit (FA), an instruction pointer register (PC) containing the value of the instruction pointer, and an instruction register (IR).

[0050] During operation of the processor (CPU), the fetch address circuit (FA) calculates the address to be read in the memories MEM1, . . . , MEMn, and the instruction pointer register (PC) of the instruction pointer stores this address.

[0051] The source code stored in m...

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Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to a method for detecting reverse engineering on a processor by using instruction pointers and an integrated circuit. A method for detecting linear extraction of information in a processor using instruction pointers. The method includes monitoring a value of the instruction pointer, determining a number of successive increments that increments the value of the instruction pointer by a constant amount, and generating a detection signal if the number is greater than or equal to a detection threshold.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0002] This application claims priority from French Patent Application No. FR2013623, filed on December 18, 2020, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0003] The present disclosure relates generally to microelectronics, and in particular embodiments, to protection against reverse engineering. Background technique [0004] Reverse engineering can be used to study and potentially clone the behavior of microcontrollers. A microcontroller typically includes at least one processor and memory connected via a data bus. Reverse engineering can include invasive attacks on microcontrollers to force the processor to linearly access information in memory. Specifically, the processor is forced into linear read mode. In this case, the software embedded in the memory no longer executes correctly, the branch instructions no longer execute, and as a result, the processor reads all the instructi...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(China)
IPC IPC(8): G06F9/30G06F11/30
CPCG06F9/30003G06F11/3051G06F11/302
Inventor D·莫伊苏克C·艾希瓦尔德
Owner STMICROELECTRONICS (GRENOBLE 2) SAS