Hardware Black Zone for TLS Master Secret Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Transportation Layer Security (TLS) Master Secrets are vulnerable to attacks even after conversations are completed, allowing for the decoding of encrypted conversations that were logged or stored, due to vulnerabilities in software implementations that compromise keys.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a hardware-based black zone with a true random number generator, secure registers, and an encryption/decryption engine to protect cryptographic operations and keys, using black keys encrypted with a key encryption key, ensuring that sensitive information remains encrypted and inaccessible to system software or malicious access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If software-based TLS implementation is used, then ease of operation and adaptability are improved, but security reliability deteriorates due to vulnerabilities that compromise keys
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two distinct zones: a secure hardware-based black zone for cryptographic operations and a standard software red zone for application logic. This segmentation isolates sensitive key operations from vulnerable software components, preventing software compromises from affecting cryptographic security.
Solution Approach 2:
A hardware security module acts as an intermediary between the software application and cryptographic operations. The black zone hardware module handles all sensitive cryptographic functions including key generation, encryption, and decryption, while the software red zone handles application-level operations, creating a security boundary.
2Reliability
If hardware-based security engine is used, then security reliability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The secure black zone cryptographic engine is merged with the standard red zone processing units into a single integrated chip. This consolidation allows the system to benefit from hardware-based security while maintaining standard manufacturing processes, avoiding the need for separate hardware security modules that would complicate manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The hardware security engine is designed to perform multiple cryptographic functions including key generation, encryption, decryption, and random number generation within a single integrated unit. This multi-functionality reduces the number of separate components needed, simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining high security reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising a black zone and a plurality of other electronic components for protecting a data exchange from a malicious attack on the data, that when executed on a processor, perform the steps comprising receiving a client hello message from a client, transmitting a server hello message, receiving a pre-master secret message encrypted with a server public key, storing the pre-master secret, protecting the black zone from malicious attacks on data by isolating hardware of the black zone from the plurality of other electronic components, calculating a master secret in the black zone, storing the master secret as a black key in the black zone, receiving a changed cipher specification and finished message encrypted with a session key, and transmitting a finished message encrypted with a symmetric key. The server hello message comprises a certificate.