Application-Level Environment Attestation for Cross-Platform Trust
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing industrial devices face challenges in ensuring the trustworthiness of execution environments, particularly when apps from different vendors run on diverse hardware and software platforms, necessitating flexible and reliable compliance checks and attestation mechanisms that are not dependent on proprietary hardware or infrastructure.
Innovation Solution
An application program that creates and cryptographically protects environment information as a fingerprint, allowing apps to independently attest their execution environment, forming a secure attestation information without relying on the runtime environment's attestation functionality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If proprietary attestation mechanisms from hardware manufacturers are used, then security and trustworthiness of the execution environment is improved, but device complexity and dependency on specific hardware infrastructure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The application program independently creates and manages its own environment information and attestation data without relying on external attestation services. The app self-generates cryptographic checksums of its code and runtime environment, and independently establishes trust relationships with other apps, eliminating dependency on hardware manufacturer proprietary solutions.
Solution Approach 2:
The attestation functionality is extracted from the hardware/OS layer and implemented directly within the application program. Instead of relying on platform-provided attestation mechanisms, each app extracts and verifies environment information independently, removing the need for complex hardware-based attestation infrastructure.
2Adaptability or versatility
If apps from different vendors run on diverse hardware and software platforms, then adaptability and versatility of the system is improved, but ensuring trustworthiness of execution environment becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The attestation mechanism is designed to be universally applicable across different hardware platforms, operating systems, and app ecosystems. The environment information structure and cryptographic verification process are platform-agnostic, allowing any app on any platform to generate and verify attestation data using the same standardized approach.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically captures and verifies parameters of the runtime environment (process ID, memory layout, loaded libraries, system calls) rather than relying on fixed hardware characteristics. This allows the same attestation mechanism to work across diverse platforms by adapting to the actual runtime parameters of each execution environment.
3Measurement precision
If comprehensive environment information is collected for attestation, then measurement precision and verification accuracy is improved, but loss of time for creating and processing attestation data increases
Solution Approach 1:
The application program continuously monitors and maintains up-to-date environment information about its runtime context (process state, memory layout, loaded modules, system calls) during execution. This preliminary collection and updating of environment data ensures that when attestation is needed, the information is already available and verified, eliminating the need for time-consuming data collection at attestation time.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments include an application program to be executed in an execution environment. An example application program comprises: a documentation unit to create environment information describing the execution environment at a runtime of the application program; and an attestation unit to cryptographically protect the environment information forming a piece of attestation information.