Hardware Root of Trust Connectionless Firmware Credential Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional trusted computing base recovery methods require connection to a backend server, leading to high costs, complexity, and inefficiencies due to the need for substantial infrastructure and bandwidth, as well as limitations in scalability and deployment rates.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an on-die certificate authority within the hardware root of trust to generate and manage firmware credentials, allowing for connectionless recovery and revocation of compromised firmware without external server connections, using existing public key infrastructure standards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a backend server infrastructure is used for trusted computing base recovery, then firmware credentials can be issued and revoked, but system complexity and cost increase substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the credential issuance and revocation functionality from the external backend server and embeds it directly into the hardware root of trust. The hardware root of trust now contains the certificate authority private key and can autonomously issue and revoke credentials without requiring external server infrastructure, thereby eliminating system complexity while maintaining reliable firmware credential management
Solution Approach 2:
The hardware root of trust performs self-service by autonomously managing firmware credentials using its embedded certificate authority. The system can issue credentials to firmware components and revoke compromised credentials without requiring external intervention or backend server infrastructure, making the trust base self-sufficient and reducing overall system complexity
2Reliability
If a backend server infrastructure is used for trusted computing base recovery, then credential issuance is possible, but deployment rate and scalability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the dependency on external backend servers for credential issuance by embedding the certificate authority functionality within the hardware root of trust. This enables firmware components to obtain credentials locally without requiring network connectivity or external server availability, significantly improving deployment rate and scalability across large-scale firmware updates
Solution Approach 2:
The hardware root of trust pre-embeds the certificate authority private key and credential management capabilities during manufacturing. This preliminary setup allows the system to autonomously issue and manage credentials for firmware components without requiring real-time external server access, enabling rapid and scalable firmware deployment
3Reliability
If connection to backend server is required for firmware recovery, then credentials can be managed, but bandwidth and infrastructure costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the credential management functionality from external servers and embeds it in the hardware root of trust, eliminating the need for continuous network connectivity during firmware recovery operations. This reduces bandwidth consumption and infrastructure costs while maintaining reliable firmware recovery capabilities through local autonomous operation
Data Source
AI summary
Connectionless trusted computing base recovery is described. An example of a system includes one or more processors to process data; hardware including a hardware RoT (root of trust); and firmware including a firmware TCB (trusted computing base), the firmware including the credentials including one or more certificates and one or more keys, wherein the one or more processors are to determine that the firmware TCB is compromised and that the hardware RoT is intact; issue new credentials by the hardware RoT to mutable firmware based on a version number or security version number (SVN) of the firmware; and revoke old versions of the credentials for the firmware.