Remote Attestation Using Segment Hashing for Low-Memory Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle computing systems face challenges in performing remote attestation due to resource constraints, particularly limited memory, which hinders effective integrity checks and security routines, making them vulnerable to malicious attacks.
Innovation Solution
A system using incremental or homomorphic hashing to validate system data in segments, allowing attestation to be performed efficiently within constrained resources without interrupting normal execution, and generating a root hash for integrity verification.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional remote attestation is performed on resource-constrained devices, then security integrity verification is improved, but memory resource consumption increases beyond available capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides system data into multiple segments and processes them individually. Instead of loading all data into memory at once, the attestation process processes segments sequentially, generating integrity hashes for each segment and combining them into a root hash. This segmentation allows the attestation to proceed with limited memory resources while maintaining security verification capability.
2Quantity of substance
If incremental hashing is implemented for remote attestation, then memory resource usage is reduced, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces incremental hashing as an intermediary mechanism that processes data segments sequentially rather than requiring all data in memory simultaneously. The homomorphic hash function acts as a mediator that combines segment hashes into a root hash, enabling memory-efficient processing while managing computational complexity through a structured approach.
3Productivity
If parallel remote attestation requests are processed, then attestation throughput is improved, but available memory is quickly consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the attestation process into independent unit-of-work operations that can be processed sequentially or with limited parallelism. Each segment is processed independently with its own memory context, allowing multiple attestation requests to be handled without requiring all memory to be simultaneously allocated, thus improving throughput while managing memory constraints.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems, methods, and other embodiments described herein relate to remote attestation for resource-constrained systems. In one embodiment, a method includes acquiring segments of system data (240) within an attesting device (410) responsive to an attestation request. The method includes determining an integrity of the system data (240) by identifying whether a root hash comprised of integrity hashes of the segments matches a reference hash. The method includes providing a report according to the integrity.