Protected Storage Area for Secure Firmware Backup and Recovery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current technologies lack effective mechanisms for providing protected storage and secure access to backup images of platform firmware and other software, making them vulnerable to malicious attacks and difficult to recover from.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilizes a protected storage area in non-volatile memory, secured through pairing with a host using secret and public keys for mutual authentication, allowing secure access and updating of corrupted software.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If firmware is made programmable and updatable to correct bugs and add features, then adaptability is improved, but security deteriorates because compromised firmware becomes hard to detect and difficult to recover from
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides firmware into multiple images stored in non-volatile memory, with each image representing a distinct version or component. This segmentation allows the system to maintain multiple firmware versions simultaneously, enabling updates while preserving backup copies for recovery purposes if compromise is detected.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary actions by establishing a root of trust in hardware before firmware execution, pre-authenticating firmware images against known good versions, and preparing recovery mechanisms in advance. This includes verifying firmware integrity before loading and having backup images ready before compromise occurs.
2Reliability
If non-volatile memory password protection is enabled to protect data, then security is improved, but vulnerability increases because password contents become exposed to malicious attacks at boot time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the password protection mechanism from the software layer and implements it in the hardware memory controller. This extraction removes passwords from software-managed environments where they are vulnerable to attacks, placing them in a hardware-secured context where they cannot be easily accessed or compromised by software-based malicious code.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hardware-based authentication intermediary that mediates between the user and the firmware. This intermediary verifies passwords through hardware-secured mechanisms before firmware loading, preventing exposure of password contents to potential attackers while maintaining security.
3Reliability
If firmware is guarded as part of the root of trust chain, then security is improved, but recovery difficulty increases because compromised firmware requires complete platform unbootability
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements beforehand cushioning by maintaining backup firmware images in non-volatile memory and establishing verification mechanisms that detect compromise before it affects system operation. This cushioning allows the system to recover from detected compromises using pre-stored good versions without requiring complete platform unbootability or external recovery media.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a mechanism to discard compromised firmware images and recover by loading alternative good versions from backup storage. The system can identify compromised images through verification against the root of trust and automatically switch to backup images, enabling recovery without external intervention.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are apparatus, system, and method for providing memory access control to protect software (e.g., firmware backup) and other data. The method comprises providing, by a processor, a protected storage area in a memory for storing backup image of software; detecting corruption in the software; accessing the backup image of the software from the protected storage area; and updating the corrupted software using the backup image, wherein the protected storage area is a reserved storage area of the memory.