Ownership Transfer Chain of Trust for Firmware Control

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing systems face challenges in securely transferring ownership control of computing devices from one entity to another, particularly in maintaining a chain of trust and managing firmware ownership across multiple entities, which can lead to security risks and integrity issues.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a system that allows for the separation of computing system ownership from firmware ownership, establishing a cryptographically verified chain of provenance, and enabling a new system owner to generate and provision a root-of-trust public key (ROTPK) to securely transfer ownership, manage authorized firmware signing domains, and maintain a secure chain of trust.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If cryptographic control is transferred from current owner to new owner, then ownership control is transferred securely, but maintaining chain of trust and firmware integrity becomes more complex

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesecurity of ownership transferVSAvoidchain of trust management

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the ownership transfer process into distinct cryptographic stages: (1) provisioning a new system owner public key, (2) signing the new owner's public key with the current owner's private key, (3) verifying the signature using the current owner's public key, and (4) updating the system owner public key in protected storage. This segmentation allows each step to be verified independently, maintaining chain of trust while enabling secure transfer.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary cryptographic mechanism - a signed public key - that acts as a trusted mediator between current and new owners. The current owner's private key signs the new owner's public key, creating a cryptographic bridge that verifies the transfer without requiring direct trust between owners. This intermediary structure simplifies the complexity of direct ownership handoff while maintaining security.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Adaptability or versatility

If multiple signing domains are allowed for firmware, then firmware versatility and adaptability improve, but verifying firmware authenticity and maintaining security becomes more difficult

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefirmware signing domainsVSAvoidfirmware authenticity verification

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a universal verification mechanism that works across multiple signing domains. The firmware verification process checks whether the firmware signature is valid with respect to the current system owner's public key, regardless of which signing domain produced the firmware. This universal approach allows multiple domains to coexist while maintaining a single, simplified verification path through the chain of trust.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent incorporates feedback loops in the firmware verification process where the system continuously verifies firmware signatures against the current system owner's public key. This feedback mechanism ensures that even with multiple signing domains, each firmware update is authenticated through the established chain of trust, providing continuous security verification while supporting domain diversity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS12536306B2System, devices and/or processes for system ownership change event

Publication Date: 2026.01.27 ARM LTD

AI summary

Briefly, example methods, apparatuses, and/or articles of manufacture are disclosed that may be implemented, in whole or in part, using one or more processing devices to facilitate and/or support system ownership change event for one or more computing devices.