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27
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +020028# Bootloader
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -060029
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -030030## [Summary](#summary)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080031
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +020032MCUboot comprises two packages:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080033
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -060034* The bootutil library (boot/bootutil)
35* The boot application (each port has its own at boot/<port>)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080036
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +020037The bootutil library performs most of the functions of a bootloader. In
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080038particular, the piece that is missing is the final step of actually jumping to
39the main image. This last step is instead implemented by the boot application.
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +020040Bootloader functionality is separated in this manner to enable unit testing of
41the bootloader. A library can be unit tested, but an application can't.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080042Therefore, functionality is delegated to the bootutil library when possible.
43
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -030044## [Limitations](#limitations)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080045
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +020046The bootloader currently only supports images with the following
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080047characteristics:
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -060048* Built to run from flash.
49* Built to run from a fixed location (i.e., not position-independent).
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080050
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +010051## [Image format](#image-format)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080052
53The following definitions describe the image format.
54
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -060055``` c
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -030056#define IMAGE_MAGIC 0x96f3b83d
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080057
58#define IMAGE_HEADER_SIZE 32
59
60struct image_version {
61 uint8_t iv_major;
62 uint8_t iv_minor;
63 uint16_t iv_revision;
64 uint32_t iv_build_num;
65};
66
67/** Image header. All fields are in little endian byte order. */
68struct image_header {
69 uint32_t ih_magic;
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -030070 uint32_t ih_load_addr;
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +020071 uint16_t ih_hdr_size; /* Size of image header (bytes). */
72 uint16_t ih_protect_tlv_size; /* Size of protected TLV area (bytes). */
73 uint32_t ih_img_size; /* Does not include header. */
74 uint32_t ih_flags; /* IMAGE_F_[...]. */
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080075 struct image_version ih_ver;
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +020076 uint32_t _pad1;
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080077};
78
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -030079#define IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC 0x6907
80#define IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC 0x6908
81
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -030082/** Image TLV header. All fields in little endian. */
83struct image_tlv_info {
84 uint16_t it_magic;
85 uint16_t it_tlv_tot; /* size of TLV area (including tlv_info header) */
86};
87
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080088/** Image trailer TLV format. All fields in little endian. */
89struct image_tlv {
90 uint8_t it_type; /* IMAGE_TLV_[...]. */
91 uint8_t _pad;
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -040092 uint16_t it_len; /* Data length (not including TLV header). */
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080093};
94
95/*
96 * Image header flags.
97 */
Marti Bolivar7c057e92017-08-04 14:46:39 -040098#define IMAGE_F_PIC 0x00000001 /* Not supported. */
Salome Thirot0f641972021-05-14 11:19:55 +010099#define IMAGE_F_ENCRYPTED_AES128 0x00000004 /* Encrypted using AES128. */
100#define IMAGE_F_ENCRYPTED_AES256 0x00000008 /* Encrypted using AES256. */
Marti Bolivar7c057e92017-08-04 14:46:39 -0400101#define IMAGE_F_NON_BOOTABLE 0x00000010 /* Split image app. */
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300102#define IMAGE_F_RAM_LOAD 0x00000020
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800103
104/*
105 * Image trailer TLV types.
106 */
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300107#define IMAGE_TLV_KEYHASH 0x01 /* hash of the public key */
David Brown27648b82017-08-31 10:40:29 -0600108#define IMAGE_TLV_SHA256 0x10 /* SHA256 of image hdr and body */
Marko Kiiskila8dd56f32017-08-22 21:40:49 -0700109#define IMAGE_TLV_RSA2048_PSS 0x20 /* RSA2048 of hash output */
David Brown27648b82017-08-31 10:40:29 -0600110#define IMAGE_TLV_ECDSA224 0x21 /* ECDSA of hash output */
111#define IMAGE_TLV_ECDSA256 0x22 /* ECDSA of hash output */
Fabio Utzig3501c012019-05-13 15:07:25 -0700112#define IMAGE_TLV_RSA3072_PSS 0x23 /* RSA3072 of hash output */
Fabio Utzig195411f2019-06-28 07:48:21 -0300113#define IMAGE_TLV_ED25519 0x24 /* ED25519 of hash output */
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200114#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_RSA2048 0x30 /* Key encrypted with RSA-OAEP-2048 */
Salome Thirot0f641972021-05-14 11:19:55 +0100115#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_KW 0x31 /* Key encrypted with AES-KW-128 or
116 256 */
Fabio Utzig5eaa5762020-04-02 13:30:43 -0300117#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_EC256 0x32 /* Key encrypted with ECIES-P256 */
118#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_X25519 0x33 /* Key encrypted with ECIES-X25519 */
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200119#define IMAGE_TLV_DEPENDENCY 0x40 /* Image depends on other image */
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +0100120#define IMAGE_TLV_SEC_CNT 0x50 /* security counter */
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600121```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800122
123Optional type-length-value records (TLVs) containing image metadata are placed
124after the end of the image.
125
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200126The `ih_protect_tlv_size` field indicates the length of the protected TLV area.
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -0300127If protected TLVs are present then a TLV info header with magic equal to
128`IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` must be present and the protected TLVs (plus the
129info header itself) have to be included in the hash calculation. Otherwise the
130hash is only calculated over the image header and the image itself. In this
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200131case the value of the `ih_protect_tlv_size` field is 0.
132
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600133The `ih_hdr_size` field indicates the length of the header, and therefore the
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800134offset of the image itself. This field provides for backwards compatibility in
135case of changes to the format of the image header.
136
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100137## [Flash map](#flash-map)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800138
Fabio Utzigac834962017-07-20 13:20:48 -0300139A device's flash is partitioned according to its _flash map_. At a high
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800140level, the flash map maps numeric IDs to _flash areas_. A flash area is a
141region of disk with the following properties:
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06001421. An area can be fully erased without affecting any other areas.
1432. A write to one area does not restrict writes to other areas.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800144
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200145The bootloader uses the following flash area IDs:
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100146```c
147/* Independent from multiple image boot */
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100148#define FLASH_AREA_BOOTLOADER 0
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100149#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_SCRATCH 3
150```
151```c
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200152/* If the bootloader is working with the first image */
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100153#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_PRIMARY 1
154#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_SECONDARY 2
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100155```
156```c
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200157/* If the bootloader is working with the second image */
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100158#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_PRIMARY 5
159#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_SECONDARY 6
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600160```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800161
Marti Bolivar4e64d562017-08-04 14:53:33 -0400162The bootloader area contains the bootloader image itself. The other areas are
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100163described in subsequent sections. The flash could contain multiple executable
164images therefore the flash area IDs of primary and secondary areas are mapped
165based on the number of the active image (on which the bootloader is currently
166working).
Marti Bolivar4e64d562017-08-04 14:53:33 -0400167
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100168## [Image slots](#image-slots)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800169
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100170A portion of the flash memory can be partitioned into multiple image areas, each
171contains two image slots: a primary slot and a secondary slot.
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200172Normally, the bootloader will only run an image from the primary slot, so
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200173images must be built such that they can run from that fixed location in flash
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200174(the exception to this is the [direct-xip](#direct-xip) and the
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200175[ram-load](#ram-load) upgrade mode). If the bootloader needs to run the
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200176image resident in the secondary slot, it must copy its contents into the primary
177slot before doing so, either by swapping the two images or by overwriting the
178contents of the primary slot. The bootloader supports either swap- or
179overwrite-based image upgrades, but must be configured at build time to choose
180one of these two strategies.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800181
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200182In addition to the slots of image areas, the bootloader requires a scratch
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100183area to allow for reliable image swapping. The scratch area must have a size
184that is enough to store at least the largest sector that is going to be swapped.
185Many devices have small equally sized flash sectors, eg 4K, while others have
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100186variable sized sectors where the largest sectors might be 128K or 256K, so the
187scratch must be big enough to store that. The scratch is only ever used when
188swapping firmware, which means only when doing an upgrade. Given that, the main
189reason for using a larger size for the scratch is that flash wear will be more
190evenly distributed, because a single sector would be written twice the number of
191times than using two sectors, for example. To evaluate the ideal size of the
192scratch for your use case the following parameters are relevant:
Fabio Utziga722f5a2017-12-12 14:04:53 -0200193
194* the ratio of image size / scratch size
195* the number of erase cycles supported by the flash hardware
196
197The image size is used (instead of slot size) because only the slot's sectors
198that are actually used for storing the image are copied. The image/scratch ratio
199is the number of times the scratch will be erased on every upgrade. The number
200of erase cycles divided by the image/scratch ratio will give you the number of
201times an upgrade can be performed before the device goes out of spec.
202
203```
204num_upgrades = number_of_erase_cycles / (image_size / scratch_size)
205```
206
207Let's assume, for example, a device with 10000 erase cycles, an image size of
208150K and a scratch of 4K (usual minimum size of 4K sector devices). This would
209result in a total of:
210
211`10000 / (150 / 4) ~ 267`
212
213Increasing the scratch to 16K would give us:
214
215`10000 / (150 / 16) ~ 1067`
216
217There is no *best* ratio, as the right size is use-case dependent. Factors to
218consider include the number of times a device will be upgraded both in the field
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100219and during development, as well as any desired safety margin on the
220manufacturer's specified number of erase cycles. In general, using a ratio that
221allows hundreds to thousands of field upgrades in production is recommended.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800222
Andrzej Puzdrowski3c1e6d32021-11-25 09:39:33 +0100223### [Swap without using scratch](#image-swap-no-scratch)
224
225This algorithm is an alternative to the swap-using-scratch algorithm.
226It uses an additional sector in the primary slot to make swap possible.
227The algorithm works as follows:
228
229 1. Moves all sectors of the primary slot up by one sector.
230 Beginning from N=0:
231 2. Copies the N-th sector from the secondary slot to the N-th sector of the
232 primary slot.
233 3. Copies the (N+1)-th sector from the primary slot to the N-th sector of the
234 secondary slot.
235 4. Repeats steps 2. and 3. until all the slots' sectors are swapped.
236
237This algorithm is designed so that the higher sector of the primary slot is
238used only for allowing sectors to move up. Therefore the most
239memory-size-effective slot layout is when the primary slot is exactly one sector
240larger than the secondary slot, although same-sized slots are allowed as well.
241The algorithm is limited to support sectors of the same
242sector layout. All slot's sectors should be of the same size.
243
244When using this algorithm the maximum image size available for the application
245will be:
246```
247maximum-image-size = (N-1) * slot-sector-size - image-trailer-sectors-size
248```
249
250Where:
251 `N` is the number of sectors in the primary slot.
252 `image-trailer-sectors-size` is the size of the image trailer rounded up to
253 the total size of sectors its occupied. For instance if the image-trailer-size
254 is equal to 1056 B and the sector size is equal to 1024 B, then
255 `image-trailer-sectors-size` will be equal to 2048 B.
256
257The algorithm does two erase cycles on the primary slot and one on the secondary
258slot during each swap. Assuming that receiving a new image by the DFU
259application requires 1 erase cycle on the secondary slot, this should result in
260leveling the flash wear between the slots.
261
262The algorithm is enabled using the `MCUBOOT_SWAP_USING_MOVE` option.
263
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200264### [Equal slots (direct-xip)](#direct-xip)
265
266When the direct-xip mode is enabled the active image flag is "moved" between the
267slots during image upgrade and in contrast to the above, the bootloader can
268run an image directly from either the primary or the secondary slot (without
269having to move/copy it into the primary slot). Therefore the image update
270client, which downloads the new images must be aware, which slot contains the
271active image and which acts as a staging area and it is responsible for loading
272the proper images into the proper slot. All this requires that the images be
273built to be executed from the corresponding slot. At boot time the bootloader
274first looks for images in the slots and then inspects the version numbers in the
275image headers. It selects the newest image (with the highest version number) and
276then checks its validity (integrity check, signature verification etc.). If the
277image is invalid MCUboot erases its memory slot and starts to validate the other
278image. After a successful validation of the selected image the bootloader
279chain-loads it.
David Vincze505fba22020-10-22 13:53:29 +0200280
281An additional "revert" mechanism is also supported. For more information, please
282read the [corresponding section](#direct-xip-revert).
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200283Handling the primary and secondary slots as equals has its drawbacks. Since the
284images are not moved between the slots, the on-the-fly image
285encryption/decryption can't be supported (it only applies to storing the image
286in an external flash on the device, the transport of encrypted image data is
287still feasible).
288
289The overwrite and the direct-xip upgrade strategies are substantially simpler to
290implement than the image swapping strategy, especially since the bootloader must
291work properly even when it is reset during the middle of an image swap. For this
292reason, the rest of the document describes its behavior when configured to swap
293images during an upgrade.
Marti Bolivara91674f2017-08-04 14:56:08 -0400294
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100295### [RAM loading](#ram-load)
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200296
297In ram-load mode the slots are equal. Like the direct-xip mode, this mode
298also selects the newest image by reading the image version numbers in the image
299headers. But instead of executing it in place, the newest image is copied to the
300RAM for execution. The load address, the location in RAM where the image is
301copied to, is stored in the image header. The ram-load upgrade mode can be
302useful when there is no internal flash in the SoC, but there is a big enough
303internal RAM to hold the images. Usually in this case the images are stored
304in an external storage device. Execution from external storage has some
305drawbacks (lower execution speed, image is exposed to attacks) therefore the
306image is always copied to the internal RAM before the authentication and
307execution. Ram-load mode requires the image to be built to be executed from
308the RAM address range instead of the storage device address range. If
309ram-load is enabled then platform must define the following parameters:
310
311```c
312#define IMAGE_EXECUTABLE_RAM_START <area_base_addr>
313#define IMAGE_EXECUTABLE_RAM_SIZE <area_size_in_bytes>
314```
315
Mark Horvathccaf7f82021-01-04 18:16:42 +0100316For multiple image load if multiple ram regions are used platform must define
317the `MULTIPLE_EXECUTABLE_RAM_REGIONS` flag instead and implement the following
318function:
319
320```c
321int boot_get_image_exec_ram_info(uint32_t image_id,
322 uint32_t *exec_ram_start,
323 uint32_t *exec_ram_size)
324```
325
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200326When ram-load is enabled, the `--load-addr <addr>` option of the `imgtool`
327script must also be used when signing the images. This option set the `RAM_LOAD`
328flag in the image header which indicates that the image should be loaded to the
329RAM and also set the load address in the image header.
330
Hugo L'Hostisdb543e52021-03-09 18:00:31 +0000331When the encryption option is enabled (`MCUBOOT_ENC_IMAGES`) along with ram-load
332the image is checked for encryption. If the image is not encrypted, RAM loading
333happens as described above. If the image is encrypted, it is copied in RAM at
334the provided address and then decrypted. Finally, the decrypted image is
335authenticated in RAM and executed.
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200336
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100337## [Boot swap types](#boot-swap-types)
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800338
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400339When the device first boots under normal circumstances, there is an up-to-date
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200340firmware image in each primary slot, which MCUboot can validate and then
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100341chain-load. In this case, no image swaps are necessary. During device upgrades,
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200342however, new candidate image(s) is present in the secondary slot(s), which
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200343MCUboot must swap into the primary slot(s) before booting as discussed above.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800344
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400345Upgrading an old image with a new one by swapping can be a two-step process. In
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200346this process, MCUboot performs a "test" swap of image data in flash and boots
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200347the new image or it will be executed during operation. The new image can then
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200348update the contents of flash at runtime to mark itself "OK", and MCUboot will
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200349then still choose to run it during the next boot. When this happens, the swap is
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200350made "permanent". If this doesn't happen, MCUboot will perform a "revert" swap
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200351during the next boot by swapping the image(s) back into its original location(s)
352, and attempting to boot the old image(s).
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800353
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400354Depending on the use case, the first swap can also be made permanent directly.
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200355In this case, MCUboot will never attempt to revert the images on the next reset.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800356
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400357Test swaps are supported to provide a rollback mechanism to prevent devices
358from becoming "bricked" by bad firmware. If the device crashes immediately
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200359upon booting a new (bad) image, MCUboot will revert to the old (working) image
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400360at the next device reset, rather than booting the bad image again. This allows
361device firmware to make test swaps permanent only after performing a self-test
362routine.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800363
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200364On startup, MCUboot inspects the contents of flash to decide for each images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200365which of these "swap types" to perform; this decision determines how it
366proceeds.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800367
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400368The possible swap types, and their meanings, are:
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800369
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600370- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE`: The "usual" or "no upgrade" case; attempt to boot the
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100371 contents of the primary slot.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800372
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100373- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_TEST`: Boot the contents of the secondary slot by swapping
374 images. Unless the swap is made permanent, revert back on the next boot.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800375
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600376- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PERM`: Permanently swap images, and boot the upgraded image
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400377 firmware.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800378
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100379- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_REVERT`: A previous test swap was not made permanent;
380 swap back to the old image whose data are now in the secondary slot. If the
381 old image marks itself "OK" when it boots, the next boot will have swap type
382 `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE`.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800383
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600384- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL`: Swap failed because image to be run is not valid.
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400385
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600386- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC`: Swapping encountered an unrecoverable error.
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400387
388The "swap type" is a high-level representation of the outcome of the
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200389boot. Subsequent sections describe how MCUboot determines the swap type from
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400390the bit-level contents of flash.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800391
David Vincze505fba22020-10-22 13:53:29 +0200392### [Revert mechanism in direct-xip mode](#direct-xip-revert)
393
394The direct-xip mode also supports a "revert" mechanism which is the equivalent
David Vincze1c456242021-06-29 15:25:24 +0200395of the swap mode's "revert" swap. When the direct-xip mode is selected it can be
396enabled with the MCUBOOT_DIRECT_XIP_REVERT config option and an image trailer
397must also be added to the signed images (the "--pad" option of the `imgtool`
398script must be used). For more information on this please read the
399[Image Trailer](#image-trailer) section and the [imgtool](imgtool.md)
400documentation. Making the images permanent (marking them as confirmed in
401advance) is also supported just like in swap mode. The individual steps of the
402direct-xip mode's "revert" mechanism are the following:
David Vincze505fba22020-10-22 13:53:29 +0200403
4041. Select the slot which holds the newest potential image.
4052. Was the image previously selected to run (during a previous boot)?
406 + Yes: Did the image mark itself "OK" (was the self-test successful)?
407 + Yes.
408 - Proceed to step 3.
409 + No.
410 - Erase the image from the slot to prevent it from being selected
411 again during the next boot.
412 - Return to step 1 (the bootloader will attempt to select and
413 possibly boot the previous image if there is one).
414 + No.
415 - Mark the image as "selected" (set the copy_done flag in the trailer).
416 - Proceed to step 3.
4173. Proceed to image validation ...
418
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100419## [Image trailer](#image-trailer)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800420
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300421For the bootloader to be able to determine the current state and what actions
Marti Bolivar42818032017-08-04 15:45:01 -0400422should be taken during the current boot operation, it uses metadata stored in
423the image flash areas. While swapping, some of this metadata is temporarily
424copied into and out of the scratch area.
425
426This metadata is located at the end of the image flash areas, and is called an
427image trailer. An image trailer has the following structure:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800428
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600429```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800430 0 1 2 3
431 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
432 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800433 ~ ~
Fabio Utzig2c05f1b2018-04-04 10:35:17 -0300434 ~ Swap status (BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS * min-write-size * 3) ~
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800435 ~ ~
436 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700437 | Encryption key 0 (16 octets) [*] |
438 | |
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800439 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700440 | Encryption key 1 (16 octets) [*] |
441 | |
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300442 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700443 | Swap size (4 octets) |
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300444 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200445 | Swap info | 0xff padding (7 octets) |
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300446 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700447 | Copy done | 0xff padding (7 octets) |
448 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
449 | Image OK | 0xff padding (7 octets) |
450 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
451 | MAGIC (16 octets) |
452 | |
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800453 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600454```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800455
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700456[*]: Only present if the encryption option is enabled (`MCUBOOT_ENC_IMAGES`).
457
Marti Bolivar42818032017-08-04 15:45:01 -0400458The offset immediately following such a record represents the start of the next
459flash area.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800460
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +0200461---
462***Note***
463
464*"min-write-size" is a property of the flash hardware. If the hardware*
465*allows individual bytes to be written at arbitrary addresses, then*
466*min-write-size is 1. If the hardware only allows writes at even addresses,*
467*then min-write-size is 2, and so on.*
468
469---
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800470
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -0400471An image trailer contains the following fields:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800472
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -04004731. Swap status: A series of records which records the progress of an image
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100474 swap. To swap entire images, data are swapped between the two image areas
475 one or more sectors at a time, like this:
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -0400476
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100477 - sector data in the primary slot is copied into scratch, then erased
478 - sector data in the secondary slot is copied into the primary slot,
479 then erased
480 - sector data in scratch is copied into the secondary slot
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -0400481
482As it swaps images, the bootloader updates the swap status field in a way that
483allows it to compute how far this swap operation has progressed for each
484sector. The swap status field can thus used to resume a swap operation if the
485bootloader is halted while a swap operation is ongoing and later reset. The
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100486`BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS` value is the configurable maximum number of sectors
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200487MCUboot supports for each image; its value defaults to 128, but allows for
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100488either decreasing this size, to limit RAM usage, or to increase it in devices
489that have massive amounts of Flash or very small sized sectors and thus require
490a bigger configuration to allow for the handling of all slot's sectors.
iysheng506a16f2021-08-26 06:13:11 +0800491The factor of min-write-size is due to the behavior of flash hardware. The factor
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100492of 3 is explained below.
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300493
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07004942. Encryption keys: key-encrypting keys (KEKs). These keys are needed for
495 image encryption and decryption. See the
496 [encrypted images](encrypted_images.md) document for more information.
497
4983. Swap size: When beginning a new swap operation, the total size that needs
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +0000499 to be swapped (based on the slot with largest image + TLVs) is written to
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100500 this location for easier recovery in case of a reset while performing the
501 swap.
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300502
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +00005034. Swap info: A single byte which encodes the following information:
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200504 - Swap type: Stored in bits 0-3. Indicating the type of swap operation in
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200505 progress. When MCUboot resumes an interrupted swap, it uses this field to
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200506 determine the type of operation to perform. This field contains one of the
507 following values in the table below.
508 - Image number: Stored in bits 4-7. It has always 0 value at single image
509 boot. In case of multi image boot it indicates, which image was swapped when
510 interrupt happened. The same scratch area is used during in case of all
511 image swap operation. Therefore this field is used to determine which image
512 the trailer belongs to if boot status is found on scratch area when the swap
513 operation is resumed.
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700514
515| Name | Value |
516| ------------------------- | ----- |
517| `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_TEST` | 2 |
518| `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PERM` | 3 |
519| `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_REVERT` | 4 |
520
521
5225. Copy done: A single byte indicating whether the image in this slot is
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600523 complete (0x01=done; 0xff=not done).
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300524
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07005256. Image OK: A single byte indicating whether the image in this slot has been
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600526 confirmed as good by the user (0x01=confirmed; 0xff=not confirmed).
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300527
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07005287. MAGIC: The following 16 bytes, written in host-byte-order:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800529
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600530``` c
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800531 const uint32_t boot_img_magic[4] = {
532 0xf395c277,
533 0x7fefd260,
534 0x0f505235,
535 0x8079b62c,
536 };
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600537```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800538
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100539## [Image trailers](#image-trailers)
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300540
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200541At startup, the bootloader determines the boot swap type by inspecting the
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400542image trailers. When using the term "image trailers" what is meant is the
543aggregate information provided by both image slot's trailers.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300544
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300545### [New swaps (non-resumes)](#new-swaps-non-resumes)
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700546
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200547For new swaps, MCUboot must inspect a collection of fields to determine which
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700548swap operation to perform.
549
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100550The image trailers records are structured around the limitations imposed by
551flash hardware. As a consequence, they do not have a very intuitive design, and
552it is difficult to get a sense of the state of the device just by looking at the
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400553image trailers. It is better to map all the possible trailer states to the swap
554types described above via a set of tables. These tables are reproduced below.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300555
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +0200556---
557***Note***
558
559*An important caveat about the tables described below is that they must*
560*be evaluated in the order presented here. Lower state numbers must have a*
561*higher priority when testing the image trailers.*
562
563---
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800564
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600565```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800566 State I
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100567 | primary slot | secondary slot |
568 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
569 magic | Any | Good |
570 image-ok | Any | Unset |
571 copy-done | Any | Any |
572 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
573 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_TEST |
574 -------------------------------------------------'
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300575
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800576
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300577 State II
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100578 | primary slot | secondary slot |
579 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
580 magic | Any | Good |
581 image-ok | Any | 0x01 |
582 copy-done | Any | Any |
583 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
584 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PERM |
585 -------------------------------------------------'
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300586
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800587
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300588 State III
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100589 | primary slot | secondary slot |
590 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
591 magic | Good | Unset |
592 image-ok | 0xff | Any |
593 copy-done | 0x01 | Any |
594 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
595 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_REVERT |
596 -------------------------------------------------'
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600597```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800598
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200599Any of the above three states results in MCUboot attempting to swap images.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800600
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200601Otherwise, MCUboot does not attempt to swap images, resulting in one of the
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400602other three swap types, as illustrated by State IV.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300603
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600604```
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300605 State IV
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100606 | primary slot | secondary slot |
607 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
608 magic | Any | Any |
609 image-ok | Any | Any |
610 copy-done | Any | Any |
611 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
612 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE, |
613 BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL, or |
614 BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC |
615 -------------------------------------------------'
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600616```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800617
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200618In State IV, when no errors occur, MCUboot will attempt to boot the contents of
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100619the primary slot directly, and the result is `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE`. If the image
620in the primary slot is not valid, the result is `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL`. If a
621fatal error occurs during boot, the result is `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC`. If the
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200622result is either `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL` or `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC`, MCUboot hangs
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100623rather than booting an invalid or compromised image.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300624
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +0200625---
626***Note***
627
628*An important caveat to the above is the result when a swap is requested*
629*and the image in the secondary slot fails to validate, due to a hashing or*
630*signing error. This state behaves as State IV with the extra action of*
631*marking the image in the primary slot as "OK", to prevent further attempts*
632*to swap.*
633
634---
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300635
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300636### [Resumed swaps](#resumed-swaps)
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700637
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200638If MCUboot determines that it is resuming an interrupted swap (i.e., a reset
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700639occurred mid-swap), it fully determines the operation to resume by reading the
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200640`swap info` field from the active trailer and extracting the swap type from bits
6410-3. The set of tables in the previous section are not necessary in the resume
642case.
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700643
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100644## [High-level operation](#high-level-operation)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800645
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200646With the terms defined, we can now explore the bootloader's operation. First,
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800647a high-level overview of the boot process is presented. Then, the following
648sections describe each step of the process in more detail.
649
650Procedure:
651
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06006521. Inspect swap status region; is an interrupted swap being resumed?
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300653 + Yes: Complete the partial swap operation; skip to step 3.
654 + No: Proceed to step 2.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800655
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06006562. Inspect image trailers; is a swap requested?
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300657 + Yes:
658 1. Is the requested image valid (integrity and security check)?
659 + Yes.
660 a. Perform swap operation.
661 b. Persist completion of swap procedure to image trailers.
662 c. Proceed to step 3.
663 + No.
664 a. Erase invalid image.
665 b. Persist failure of swap procedure to image trailers.
666 c. Proceed to step 3.
667
668 + No: Proceed to step 3.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800669
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01006703. Boot into image in primary slot.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800671
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100672### [Multiple image boot](#multiple-image-boot)
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200673
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200674When the flash contains multiple executable images the bootloader's operation
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200675is a bit more complex but similar to the previously described procedure with
676one image. Every image can be updated independently therefore the flash is
677partitioned further to arrange two slots for each image.
678```
679+--------------------+
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200680| MCUboot |
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200681+--------------------+
682 ~~~~~ <- memory might be not contiguous
683+--------------------+
684| Image 0 |
685| primary slot |
686+--------------------+
687| Image 0 |
688| secondary slot |
689+--------------------+
690 ~~~~~ <- memory might be not contiguous
691+--------------------+
692| Image N |
693| primary slot |
694+--------------------+
695| Image N |
696| secondary slot |
697+--------------------+
698| Scratch |
699+--------------------+
700```
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +0200701MCUboot is also capable of handling dependencies between images. For example
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200702if an image needs to be reverted it might be necessary to revert another one too
703(e.g. due to API incompatibilities) or simply to prevent from being updated
704because of an unsatisfied dependency. Therefore all aborted swaps have to be
705completed and all the swap types have to be determined for each image before
706the dependency checks. Dependency handling is described in more detail in a
707following section. The multiple image boot procedure is organized in loops which
708iterate over all the firmware images. The high-level overview of the boot
709process is presented below.
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200710
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700711+ Loop 1. Iterate over all images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200712 1. Inspect swap status region of current image; is an interrupted swap being
713 resumed?
714 + Yes:
715 + Review the validity of previously determined swap types
716 of other images.
717 + Complete the partial swap operation.
718 + Mark the swap type as `None`.
719 + Skip to next image.
720 + No: Proceed to step 2.
721
722 2. Inspect image trailers in the primary and secondary slot; is an image
723 swap requested?
724 + Yes: Review the validity of previously determined swap types of other
725 images. Is the requested image valid (integrity and security
726 check)?
727 + Yes:
728 + Set the previously determined swap type for the current image.
729 + Skip to next image.
730 + No:
731 + Erase invalid image.
732 + Persist failure of swap procedure to image trailers.
733 + Mark the swap type as `Fail`.
734 + Skip to next image.
735 + No:
736 + Mark the swap type as `None`.
737 + Skip to next image.
738
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700739+ Loop 2. Iterate over all images
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200740 1. Does the current image depend on other image(s)?
741 + Yes: Are all the image dependencies satisfied?
742 + Yes: Skip to next image.
743 + No:
744 + Modify swap type depending on what the previous type was.
745 + Restart dependency check from the first image.
746 + No: Skip to next image.
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200747
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700748+ Loop 3. Iterate over all images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200749 1. Is an image swap requested?
750 + Yes:
751 + Perform image update operation.
752 + Persist completion of swap procedure to image trailers.
753 + Skip to next image.
754 + No: Skip to next image.
755
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700756+ Loop 4. Iterate over all images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200757 1. Validate image in the primary slot (integrity and security check) or
758 at least do a basic sanity check to avoid booting into an empty flash
759 area.
760
761+ Boot into image in the primary slot of the 0th image position\
762 (other image in the boot chain is started by another image).
763
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100764### [Multiple image boot for RAM loading and direct-xip](#multiple-image-boot-for-ram-loading-and-direct-xip)
Mark Horvathccaf7f82021-01-04 18:16:42 +0100765
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200766The operation of the bootloader is different when the ram-load or the
Mark Horvathccaf7f82021-01-04 18:16:42 +0100767direct-xip strategy is chosen. The flash map is very similar to the swap
768strategy but there is no need for Scratch area.
769
770+ Loop 1. Until all images are loaded and all dependencies are satisfied
771 1. Subloop 1. Iterate over all images
772 + Does any of the slots contain an image?
773 + Yes:
774 + Choose the newer image.
775 + Copy it to RAM in case of ram-load strategy.
776 + Validate the image (integrity and security check).
777 + If validation fails delete the image from flash and try the other
778 slot. (Image must be deleted from RAM too in case of ram-load
779 strategy.)
780 + No: Return with failure.
781
782 2. Subloop 2. Iterate over all images
783 + Does the current image depend on other image(s)?
784 + Yes: Are all the image dependencies satisfied?
785 + Yes: Skip to next image.
786 + No:
787 + Delete the image from RAM in case of ram-load strategy, but
788 do not delete it from flash.
789 + Try to load the image from the other slot.
790 + Restart dependency check from the first image.
791 + No: Skip to next image.
792
793+ Loop 2. Iterate over all images
794 + Increase the security counter if needed.
795 + Do the measured boot and the data sharing if needed.
796
797+ Boot the loaded slot of image 0.
798
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100799## [Image swapping](#image-swapping)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800800
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200801The bootloader swaps the contents of the two image slots for two reasons:
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300802
803 * User has issued a "set pending" operation; the image in the secondary slot
Håkon Øye Amundsen11d91c32020-03-04 08:49:47 +0000804 should be run once (state I) or repeatedly (state II), depending on
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300805 whether a permanent swap was specified.
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200806 * Test image rebooted without being confirmed; the bootloader should
Håkon Øye Amundsen11d91c32020-03-04 08:49:47 +0000807 revert to the original image currently in the secondary slot (state III).
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800808
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300809If the image trailers indicates that the image in the secondary slot should be
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200810run, the bootloader needs to copy it to the primary slot. The image currently
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800811in the primary slot also needs to be retained in flash so that it can be used
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200812later. Furthermore, both images need to be recoverable if the bootloader
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800813resets in the middle of the swap operation. The two images are swapped
814according to the following procedure:
815
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -03008161. Determine if both slots are compatible enough to have their images swapped.
817 To be compatible, both have to have only sectors that can fit into the
818 scratch area and if one of them has larger sectors than the other, it must
819 be able to entirely fit some rounded number of sectors from the other slot.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300820 In the next steps we'll use the terminology "region" for the total amount of
821 data copied/erased because this can be any amount of sectors depending on
822 how many the scratch is able to fit for some swap operation.
8232. Iterate the list of region indices in descending order (i.e., starting
824 with the greatest index); only regions that are predetermined to be part of
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300825 the image are copied; current element = "index".
826 + a. Erase scratch area.
827 + b. Copy secondary_slot[index] to scratch area.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300828 - If this is the last region in the slot, scratch area has a temporary
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300829 status area initialized to store the initial state, because the
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300830 primary slot's last region will have to be erased. In this case,
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300831 only the data that was calculated to amount to the image is copied.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300832 - Else if this is the first swapped region but not the last region in
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300833 the slot, initialize the status area in primary slot and copy the
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300834 full region contents.
835 - Else, copy entire region contents.
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300836 + c. Write updated swap status (i).
837 + d. Erase secondary_slot[index]
838 + e. Copy primary_slot[index] to secondary_slot[index] according to amount
839 previosly copied at step b.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300840 - If this is not the last region in the slot, erase the trailer in the
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300841 secondary slot, to always use the one in the primary slot.
842 + f. Write updated swap status (ii).
843 + g. Erase primary_slot[index].
844 + h. Copy scratch area to primary_slot[index] according to amount
845 previously copied at step b.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300846 - If this is the last region in the slot, the status is read from
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300847 scratch (where it was stored temporarily) and written anew in the
848 primary slot.
849 + i. Write updated swap status (iii).
8503. Persist completion of swap procedure to the primary slot image trailer.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800851
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100852The additional caveats in step 2f are necessary so that the secondary slot image
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800853trailer can be written by the user at a later time. With the image trailer
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100854unwritten, the user can test the image in the secondary slot
Håkon Øye Amundsen11d91c32020-03-04 08:49:47 +0000855(i.e., transition to state I).
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800856
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +0200857---
858***Note***
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300859
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +0200860*If the region being copied contains the last sector, then swap status is*
861*temporarily maintained on scratch for the duration of this operation, always*
862*using the primary slot's area otherwise.*
863
864---
865***Note***
866
867*The bootloader tries to copy only used sectors (based on largest image*
868*installed on any of the slots), minimizing the amount of sectors copied and*
869*reducing the amount of time required for a swap operation.*
870
871---
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300872
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800873The particulars of step 3 vary depending on whether an image is being tested,
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100874permanently used, reverted or a validation failure of the secondary slot
875happened when a swap was requested:
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300876
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800877 * test:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100878 o Write primary_slot.copy_done = 1
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800879 (swap caused the following values to be written:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100880 primary_slot.magic = BOOT_MAGIC
Håkon Øye Amundsencdf94c22020-03-04 08:52:31 +0000881 secondary_slot.magic = UNSET
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100882 primary_slot.image_ok = Unset)
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800883
884 * permanent:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100885 o Write primary_slot.copy_done = 1
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800886 (swap caused the following values to be written:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100887 primary_slot.magic = BOOT_MAGIC
Håkon Øye Amundsencdf94c22020-03-04 08:52:31 +0000888 secondary_slot.magic = UNSET
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100889 primary_slot.image_ok = 0x01)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800890
891 * revert:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100892 o Write primary_slot.copy_done = 1
893 o Write primary_slot.image_ok = 1
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300894 (swap caused the following values to be written:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100895 primary_slot.magic = BOOT_MAGIC)
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300896
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100897 * failure to validate the secondary slot:
898 o Write primary_slot.image_ok = 1
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300899
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100900After completing the operations as described above the image in the primary slot
901should be booted.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800902
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100903## [Swap status](#swap-status)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800904
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200905The swap status region allows the bootloader to recover in case it restarts in
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800906the middle of an image swap operation. The swap status region consists of a
907series of single-byte records. These records are written independently, and
908therefore must be padded according to the minimum write size imposed by the
909flash hardware. In the below figure, a min-write-size of 1 is assumed for
910simplicity. The structure of the swap status region is illustrated below. In
911this figure, a min-write-size of 1 is assumed for simplicity.
912
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600913```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800914 0 1 2 3
915 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
916 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
917 |sec127,state 0 |sec127,state 1 |sec127,state 2 |sec126,state 0 |
918 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
919 |sec126,state 1 |sec126,state 2 |sec125,state 0 |sec125,state 1 |
920 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
921 |sec125,state 2 | |
922 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
923 ~ ~
924 ~ [Records for indices 124 through 1 ~
925 ~ ~
926 ~ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
927 ~ |sec000,state 0 |sec000,state 1 |sec000,state 2 |
928 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600929```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800930
931The above is probably not helpful at all; here is a description in English.
932
933Each image slot is partitioned into a sequence of flash sectors. If we were to
934enumerate the sectors in a single slot, starting at 0, we would have a list of
935sector indices. Since there are two image slots, each sector index would
936correspond to a pair of sectors. For example, sector index 0 corresponds to
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100937the first sector in the primary slot and the first sector in the secondary slot.
938Finally, reverse the list of indices such that the list starts with index
939`BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS - 1` and ends with 0. The swap status region is a
940representation of this reversed list.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800941
942During a swap operation, each sector index transitions through four separate
943states:
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600944```
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01009450. primary slot: image 0, secondary slot: image 1, scratch: N/A
9461. primary slot: image 0, secondary slot: N/A, scratch: image 1 (1->s, erase 1)
9472. primary slot: N/A, secondary slot: image 0, scratch: image 1 (0->1, erase 0)
9483. primary slot: image 1, secondary slot: image 0, scratch: N/A (s->0)
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600949```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800950
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200951Each time a sector index transitions to a new state, the bootloader writes a
952record to the swap status region. Logically, the bootloader only needs one
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800953record per sector index to keep track of the current swap state. However, due
954to limitations imposed by flash hardware, a record cannot be overwritten when
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200955an index's state changes. To solve this problem, the bootloader uses three
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800956records per sector index rather than just one.
957
958Each sector-state pair is represented as a set of three records. The record
959values map to the above four states as follows
960
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600961```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800962 | rec0 | rec1 | rec2
963 --------+------+------+------
964 state 0 | 0xff | 0xff | 0xff
965 state 1 | 0x01 | 0xff | 0xff
966 state 2 | 0x01 | 0x02 | 0xff
967 state 3 | 0x01 | 0x02 | 0x03
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600968```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800969
Fabio Utzig2c05f1b2018-04-04 10:35:17 -0300970The swap status region can accommodate `BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS` sector indices.
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100971Hence, the size of the region, in bytes, is
972`BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS * min-write-size * 3`. The only requirement for the index
973count is that it is great enough to account for a maximum-sized image
974(i.e., at least as great as the total sector count in an image slot). If a
975device's image slots have been configured with `BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS: 128` and
976use less than 128 sectors, the first record that gets written will be somewhere
977in the middle of the region. For example, if a slot uses 64 sectors, the first
978sector index that gets swapped is 63, which corresponds to the exact halfway
979point within the region.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800980
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +0200981---
982***Note***
983
984*Since the scratch area only ever needs to record swapping of the last*
985*sector, it uses at most min-write-size * 3 bytes for its own status area.*
986
987---
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300988
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +0100989## [Reset recovery](#reset-recovery)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800990
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +0200991If the bootloader resets in the middle of a swap operation, the two images may
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800992be discontiguous in flash. Bootutil recovers from this condition by using the
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300993image trailers to determine how the image parts are distributed in flash.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800994
995The first step is determine where the relevant swap status region is located.
996Because this region is embedded within the image slots, its location in flash
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300997changes during a swap operation. The below set of tables map image trailers
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800998contents to swap status location. In these tables, the "source" field
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200999indicates where the swap status region is located. In case of multi image boot
1000the images primary area and the single scratch area is always examined in pairs.
1001If swap status found on scratch area then it might not belong to the current
1002image. The swap_info field of swap status stores the corresponding image number.
1003If it does not match then "source: none" is returned.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001004
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06001005```
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01001006 | primary slot | scratch |
1007 ----------+--------------+--------------|
1008 magic | Good | Any |
1009 copy-done | 0x01 | N/A |
1010 ----------+--------------+--------------'
1011 source: none |
1012 ----------------------------------------'
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -04001013
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01001014 | primary slot | scratch |
1015 ----------+--------------+--------------|
1016 magic | Good | Any |
1017 copy-done | 0xff | N/A |
1018 ----------+--------------+--------------'
1019 source: primary slot |
1020 ----------------------------------------'
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -04001021
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01001022 | primary slot | scratch |
1023 ----------+--------------+--------------|
1024 magic | Any | Good |
1025 copy-done | Any | N/A |
1026 ----------+--------------+--------------'
1027 source: scratch |
1028 ----------------------------------------'
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -04001029
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01001030 | primary slot | scratch |
1031 ----------+--------------+--------------|
1032 magic | Unset | Any |
1033 copy-done | 0xff | N/A |
1034 ----------+--------------+--------------|
1035 source: primary slot |
1036 ----------------------------------------+------------------------------+
1037 This represents one of two cases: |
1038 o No swaps ever (no status to read, so no harm in checking). |
1039 o Mid-revert; status in the primary slot. |
1040 For this reason we assume the primary slot as source, to trigger a |
1041 check of the status area and find out if there was swapping under way. |
1042 -----------------------------------------------------------------------'
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06001043```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001044
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001045If the swap status region indicates that the images are not contiguous, MCUboot
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07001046determines the type of swap operation that was interrupted by reading the `swap
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +00001047info` field in the active image trailer and extracting the swap type from bits
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +020010480-3 then resumes the operation. In other words, it applies the procedure defined
1049in the previous section, moving image 1 into the primary slot and image 0 into
1050the secondary slot. If the boot status indicates that an image part is present
1051in the scratch area, this part is copied into the correct location by starting
1052at step e or step h in the area-swap procedure, depending on whether the part
1053belongs to image 0 or image 1.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001054
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +02001055After the swap operation has been completed, the bootloader proceeds as though
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001056it had just been started.
1057
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +01001058## [Integrity check](#integrity-check)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001059
1060An image is checked for integrity immediately before it gets copied into the
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +02001061primary slot. If the bootloader doesn't perform an image swap, then it can
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01001062perform an optional integrity check of the image in the primary slot if
1063`MCUBOOT_VALIDATE_PRIMARY_SLOT` is set, otherwise it doesn't perform an
1064integrity check.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001065
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +02001066During the integrity check, the bootloader verifies the following aspects of
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001067an image:
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -03001068
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -03001069 * 32-bit magic number must be correct (`IMAGE_MAGIC`).
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -03001070 * Image must contain an `image_tlv_info` struct, identified by its magic
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -03001071 (`IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` or `IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC`) exactly following
1072 the firmware (`hdr_size` + `img_size`). If `IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` is
1073 found then after `ih_protect_tlv_size` bytes, another `image_tlv_info`
1074 with magic equal to `IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC` must be present.
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -03001075 * Image must contain a SHA256 TLV.
1076 * Calculated SHA256 must match SHA256 TLV contents.
1077 * Image *may* contain a signature TLV. If it does, it must also have a
1078 KEYHASH TLV with the hash of the key that was used to sign. The list of
1079 keys will then be iterated over looking for the matching key, which then
1080 will then be used to verify the image contents.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001081
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -03001082## [Security](#security)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001083
1084As indicated above, the final step of the integrity check is signature
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +02001085verification. The bootloader can have one or more public keys embedded in it
1086at build time. During signature verification, the bootloader verifies that an
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +00001087image was signed with a private key that corresponds to the embedded KEYHASH
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -03001088TLV.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -08001089
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +02001090For information on embedding public keys in the bootloader, as well as
Fabio Utzig4dce6aa2018-02-12 15:31:32 -02001091producing signed images, see: [signed_images](signed_images.md).
Fabio Utzigcdfa11a2018-10-01 09:45:54 -03001092
1093If you want to enable and use encrypted images, see:
1094[encrypted_images](encrypted_images.md).
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001095
Francesco Servidio2fe449d2021-10-21 12:38:36 +02001096---
1097***Note***
1098
1099*Image encryption is not supported when the direct-xip upgrade strategy*
1100*is selected.*
1101
1102---
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +02001103
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +01001104### [Using hardware keys for verification](#hw-key-support)
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001105
1106By default, the whole public key is embedded in the bootloader code and its
1107hash is added to the image manifest as a KEYHASH TLV entry. As an alternative
1108the bootloader can be made independent of the keys by setting the
1109`MCUBOOT_HW_KEY` option. In this case the hash of the public key must be
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001110provisioned to the target device and MCUboot must be able to retrieve the
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001111key-hash from there. For this reason the target must provide a definition
1112for the `boot_retrieve_public_key_hash()` function which is declared in
1113`boot/bootutil/include/bootutil/sign_key.h`. It is also required to use
1114the `full` option for the `--public-key-format` imgtool argument in order to
1115add the whole public key (PUBKEY TLV) to the image manifest instead of its
1116hash (KEYHASH TLV). During boot the public key is validated before using it for
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001117signature verification, MCUboot calculates the hash of the public key from the
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001118TLV area and compares it with the key-hash that was retrieved from the device.
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001119This way MCUboot is independent from the public key(s). The key(s) can be
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001120provisioned any time and by different parties.
1121
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -03001122## [Protected TLVs](#protected-tlvs)
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -03001123
1124If the TLV area contains protected TLV entries, by beginning with a `struct
1125image_tlv_info` with a magic value of `IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` then the
1126data of those TLVs must also be integrity and authenticity protected. Beyond
1127the full size of the protected TLVs being stored in the `image_tlv_info`,
1128the size of the protected TLVs together with the size of the `image_tlv_info`
1129struct itself are also saved in the `ih_protected_size` field inside the
1130header.
1131
1132Whenever an image has protected TLVs the SHA256 has to be calculated over
1133not just the image header and the image but also the TLV info header and the
1134protected TLVs.
1135
1136```
1137A +---------------------+
1138 | Header | <- struct image_header
1139 +---------------------+
1140 | Payload |
1141 +---------------------+
1142 | TLV area |
1143 | +-----------------+ | struct image_tlv_info with
1144 | | TLV area header | | <- IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC (optional)
1145 | +-----------------+ |
1146 | | Protected TLVs | | <- Protected TLVs (struct image_tlv)
1147B | +-----------------+ |
1148 | | TLV area header | | <- struct image_tlv_info with IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC
1149C | +-----------------+ |
1150 | | SHA256 hash | | <- hash from A - B (struct image_tlv)
1151D | +-----------------+ |
1152 | | Keyhash | | <- indicates which pub. key for sig (struct image_tlv)
1153 | +-----------------+ |
1154 | | Signature | | <- signature from C - D (struct image_tlv), only hash
1155 | +-----------------+ |
1156 +---------------------+
1157```
1158
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +01001159## [Dependency check](#dependency-check)
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001160
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001161MCUboot can handle multiple firmware images. It is possible to update them
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001162independently but in many cases it can be desired to be able to describe
1163dependencies between the images (e.g. to ensure API compliance and avoid
1164interoperability issues).
1165
1166The dependencies between images can be described with additional TLV entries in
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -03001167the protected TLV area after the end of an image. There can be more than one
1168dependency entry, but in practice if the platform only supports two individual
1169images then there can be maximum one entry which reflects to the other image.
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001170
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001171At the phase of dependency check all aborted swaps are finalized if there were
Francesco Servidio482921f2021-10-20 15:42:59 +02001172any. During the dependency check the bootloader verifies whether the image
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001173dependencies are all satisfied. If at least one of the dependencies of an image
1174is not fulfilled then the swap type of that image has to be modified
1175accordingly and the dependency check needs to be restarted. This way the number
1176of unsatisfied dependencies will decrease or remain the same. There is always at
1177least 1 valid configuration. In worst case, the system returns to the initial
1178state after dependency check.
1179
1180For more information on adding dependency entries to an image,
1181see: [imgtool](imgtool.md).
Håkon Øye Amundsen2d1bac12020-01-03 13:08:09 +00001182
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +01001183## [Downgrade prevention](#downgrade-prevention)
Håkon Øye Amundsen2d1bac12020-01-03 13:08:09 +00001184
1185Downgrade prevention is a feature which enforces that the new image must have a
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001186higher version/security counter number than the image it is replacing, thus
1187preventing the malicious downgrading of the device to an older and possibly
1188vulnerable version of its firmware.
1189
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +01001190### [Software-based downgrade prevention](#sw-downgrade-prevention)
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001191
1192During the software based downgrade prevention the image version numbers are
1193compared. This feature is enabled with the `MCUBOOT_DOWNGRADE_PREVENTION`
1194option. In this case downgrade prevention is only available when the
1195overwrite-based image update strategy is used (i.e. `MCUBOOT_OVERWRITE_ONLY`
1196is set).
1197
Francesco Servidio5bc98322021-11-03 13:19:22 +01001198### [Hardware-based downgrade prevention](#hw-downgrade-prevention)
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001199
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001200Each signed image can contain a security counter in its protected TLV area, which
1201can be added to the image using the `-s` option of the [imgtool](imgtool.md) script.
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001202During the hardware based downgrade prevention (alias rollback protection) the
1203new image's security counter will be compared with the currently active security
1204counter value which must be stored in a non-volatile and trusted component of
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001205the device. It is beneficial to handle this counter independently from image
1206version number:
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001207
1208 * It does not need to increase with each software release,
1209 * It makes it possible to do software downgrade to some extent: if the
1210 security counter has the same value in the older image then it is accepted.
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001211
1212It is an optional step of the image validation process and can be enabled with
1213the `MCUBOOT_HW_ROLLBACK_PROT` config option. When enabled, the target must
1214provide an implementation of the security counter interface defined in
1215`boot/bootutil/include/security_cnt.h`.
1216
1217## [Measured boot and data sharing](#boot-data-sharing)
1218
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001219MCUboot defines a mechanism for sharing boot status information (also known as
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001220measured boot) and an interface for sharing application specific information
1221with the runtime software. If any of these are enabled the target must provide
1222a shared data area between the bootloader and runtime firmware and define the
1223following parameters:
1224
1225```c
1226#define MCUBOOT_SHARED_DATA_BASE <area_base_addr>
1227#define MCUBOOT_SHARED_DATA_SIZE <area_size_in_bytes>
1228```
1229
1230In the shared memory area all data entries are stored in a type-length-value
1231(TLV) format. Before adding the first data entry, the whole area is overwritten
1232with zeros and a TLV header is added at the beginning of the area during an
1233initialization phase. This TLV header contains a `tlv_magic` field with a value
1234of `SHARED_DATA_TLV_INFO_MAGIC` and a `tlv_tot_len` field which is indicating
1235the total length of shared TLV area including this header. The header is
1236followed by the the data TLV entries which are composed from a
1237`shared_data_tlv_entry` header and the data itself. In the data header there is
1238a `tlv_type` field which identifies the consumer of the entry (in the runtime
1239software) and specifies the subtype of that data item. More information about
1240the `tlv_type` field and data types can be found in the
1241`boot/bootutil/include/bootutil/boot_status.h` file. The type is followed by a
1242`tlv_len` field which indicates the size of the data entry in bytes, not
1243including the entry header. After this header structure comes the actual data.
1244
1245```c
1246/** Shared data TLV header. All fields in little endian. */
1247struct shared_data_tlv_header {
1248 uint16_t tlv_magic;
1249 uint16_t tlv_tot_len; /* size of whole TLV area (including this header) */
1250};
1251
1252/** Shared data TLV entry header format. All fields in little endian. */
1253struct shared_data_tlv_entry {
1254 uint16_t tlv_type;
1255 uint16_t tlv_len; /* TLV data length (not including this header). */
1256};
1257```
1258
1259The measured boot can be enabled with the `MCUBOOT_MEASURED_BOOT` config option.
1260When enabled, the `--boot_record` argument of the imgtool script must also be
1261used during the image signing process to add a BOOT_RECORD TLV to the image
1262manifest. This TLV contains the following attributes/measurements of the
1263image in CBOR encoded format:
1264
1265 * Software type (role of the software component)
1266 * Software version
1267 * Signer ID (identifies the signing authority)
1268 * Measurement value (hash of the image)
1269 * Measurement type (algorithm used to calculate the measurement value)
1270
1271The `sw_type` string that is passed as the `--boot_record` option's parameter
1272will be the value of the "Software type" attribute in the generated BOOT_RECORD
1273TLV. The target must also define the `MAX_BOOT_RECORD_SZ` macro which indicates
1274the maximum size of the CBOR encoded boot record in bytes.
Francesco Servidio4ff0c182021-10-20 15:27:16 +02001275During boot, MCUboot will look for these TLVs (in case of multiple images) in
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001276the manifests of the active images (the latest and validated) and copy the CBOR
1277encoded binary data to the shared data area. Preserving all these image
1278attributes from the boot stage for use by later runtime services (such as an
1279attestation service) is known as a measured boot.
1280
1281Setting the `MCUBOOT_DATA_SHARING` option enables the sharing of application
1282specific data using the same shared data area as for the measured boot. For
1283this, the target must provide a definition for the `boot_save_shared_data()`
1284function which is declared in `boot/bootutil/include/bootutil/boot_record.h`.
1285The `boot_add_data_to_shared_area()` function can be used for adding new TLV
1286entries to the shared data area.
Mate Toth-Palcbf9d392020-11-09 16:47:49 +01001287
1288## [Testing in CI](#testing-in-ci)
1289
1290### [Testing Fault Injection Hardening (FIH)](#testing-fih)
1291
1292The CI currently tests the Fault Injection Hardening feature of MCUboot by
1293executing instruction skip during execution, and looking at whether a corrupted
1294image was booted by the bootloader or not.
1295
1296The main idea is that instruction skipping can be automated by scripting a
1297debugger to automatically execute the following steps:
1298
1299- Set breakpoint at specified address.
1300- Continue execution.
1301- On breakpoint hit increase the Program Counter.
1302- Continue execution.
1303- Detach from target after a timeout reached.
1304
1305Whether or not the corrupted image was booted or not can be decided by looking
1306for certain entries in the log.
1307
1308As MCUboot is deployed on a microcontroller, testing FI would not make much
1309sense in the simulator environment running on a host machine with different
1310architecture than the MCU's, as the degree of hardening depends on compiler
1311behavior. For example, (a bit counterintuitively) the code produced by gcc
1312with `-O0` optimisation is more resilient against FI attacks than the code
1313generated with `-O3` or `-Os` optimizations.
1314
1315To run on a desired architecture in the CI, the tests need to be executed on an
1316emulator (as real devices are not available in the CI environment). For this
1317implementation QEMU is selected.
1318
1319For the tests MCUboot needs a set of drivers and an implementation of a main
1320function. For the purpose of this test Trusted-Firmware-M has been selected as
1321it supports Armv8-M platforms that are also emulated by QEMU.
1322
1323The tests run in a docker container inside the CI VMs, to make it more easy to
1324deploy build and test environment (QEMU, compilers, interpreters). The CI VMs
1325seems to be using quite old Ubuntu (16.04).
1326
1327The sequence of the testing is the following (pseudo code):
1328
1329```sh
1330fn main()
1331 # Implemented in ci/fih-tests_install.sh
1332 generate_docker_image(Dockerfile)
1333
1334 # See details below. Implemented in ci/fih-tests_run.sh.
1335 # Calling the function with different parameters is done by Travis CI based on
1336 # the values provided in the .travis.yaml
1337 start_docker_image(skip_sizes, build_type, damage_type, fih_level)
1338
1339fn start_docker_image(skip_sizes, build_type, damage_type, fih_level)
1340 # implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/execute_test.sh
1341 compile_mcuboot(build_type)
1342
1343 # implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/damage_image.py
1344 damage_image(damage_type)
1345
1346 # implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/run_fi_test.sh
1347 ranges = generate_address_ranges()
1348 for s in skip_sizes
1349 for r in ranges
1350 do_skip_in_qemu(s, r) # See details below
1351 evaluate_logs()
1352
1353fn do_skip_in_qemu(size, range)
1354 for a in r
1355 run_qemu(a, size) # See details below
1356
1357# this part is implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/fi_tester_gdb.sh
1358fn run_qemu(a, size)
1359 script = create_debugger_script(a, size)
1360 start_qemu_in_bacground() # logs serial out to a file
1361 gdb_attach_to_qemu(script)
1362 kill_qemu()
1363
1364 # This checks the debugger and the quemu logs, and decides whether the tets
1365 # was executed successfully, and whether the image is booted or not. Then
1366 # emits a yaml fragment on the standard out to be processed by the caller
1367 # script
1368 evaluate_run(qemu_log_file)
1369```
1370
1371Further notes:
1372
1373- The image is corrupted by changing its signature.
1374- MCUBOOT_FIH_PROFILE_MAX is not tested as it requires TRNG, and the AN521
1375platform has no support for it. However this profile adds the random
1376execution delay to the code, so should not affect the instruction skip results
1377too much, because break point is placed at exact address. But in practice this
1378makes harder the accurate timing of the attack.
1379- The test cases defined in .travis.yml always return `passed`, if they were
1380executed successfully. A yaml file is created during test execution with the
1381details of the test execution results. A summary of the collected results is
1382printed in the log at the end of the test.
1383
1384An advantage of having the tests running in a docker image is that it is
1385possible to run the tests on a local machine that has git and docker, without
1386installing any additional software.
1387
1388So, running the test on the host looks like the following (The commands below
1389are issued from the MCUboot source directory):
1390
1391```sh
Sherry Zhang3c4f69c2021-09-16 14:20:04 +08001392$ mkdir docker
Mate Toth-Palcbf9d392020-11-09 16:47:49 +01001393$ ./ci/fih-tests_install.sh
1394$ FIH_LEVEL=MCUBOOT_FIH_PROFILE_MEDIUM BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE SKIP_SIZE=2 \
1395 DAMAGE_TYPE=SIGNATURE ./ci/fih-tests_run.sh
1396```
1397On the travis CI the environment variables in the last command are set based on
1398the configs provided in the `.travis.yaml`
1399
1400This starts the tests, however the shell that it is running in is not
1401interactive, it is not possible to examine the results of the test run. To have
1402an interactive shell where the results can be examined, the following can be
1403done:
1404
1405- The docker image needs to be built with `ci/fih-tests_install.sh` as described
1406 above.
1407- Start the docker image with the following command:
1408 `docker run -i -t mcuboot/fih-test`.
1409- Execute the test with a command similar to the following:
1410 `/root/execute_test.sh 8 RELEASE SIGNATURE MEDIUM`. After the test finishes,
1411 the shell returns, and it is possible to investigate the results. It is also
1412 possible to stop the test with _Ctrl+c_. The parameters to the
1413 `execute_test.sh` are `SKIP_SIZE`, `BUILD_TYPE`, `DAMAGE_TYPE`, `FIH_LEVEL` in
Salome Thirot0f641972021-05-14 11:19:55 +01001414 order.