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27
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -060028# Boot Loader
29
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -030030## [Summary](#summary)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -080031
Fabio Utzigac834962017-07-20 13:20:48 -030032mcuboot 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
37The bootutil library performs most of the functions of a boot loader. In
38particular, 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.
40Boot loader functionality is separated in this manner to enable unit testing of
41the boot loader. A library can be unit tested, but an application can't.
42Therefore, 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
46The boot loader currently only supports images with the following
47characteristics:
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
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -030051## [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. */
Marti Bolivar7c057e92017-08-04 14:46:39 -040099#define IMAGE_F_NON_BOOTABLE 0x00000010 /* Split image app. */
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300100#define IMAGE_F_RAM_LOAD 0x00000020
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800101
102/*
103 * Image trailer TLV types.
104 */
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300105#define IMAGE_TLV_KEYHASH 0x01 /* hash of the public key */
David Brown27648b82017-08-31 10:40:29 -0600106#define IMAGE_TLV_SHA256 0x10 /* SHA256 of image hdr and body */
Marko Kiiskila8dd56f32017-08-22 21:40:49 -0700107#define IMAGE_TLV_RSA2048_PSS 0x20 /* RSA2048 of hash output */
David Brown27648b82017-08-31 10:40:29 -0600108#define IMAGE_TLV_ECDSA224 0x21 /* ECDSA of hash output */
109#define IMAGE_TLV_ECDSA256 0x22 /* ECDSA of hash output */
Fabio Utzig3501c012019-05-13 15:07:25 -0700110#define IMAGE_TLV_RSA3072_PSS 0x23 /* RSA3072 of hash output */
Fabio Utzig195411f2019-06-28 07:48:21 -0300111#define IMAGE_TLV_ED25519 0x24 /* ED25519 of hash output */
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200112#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_RSA2048 0x30 /* Key encrypted with RSA-OAEP-2048 */
113#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_KW128 0x31 /* Key encrypted with AES-KW-128 */
Fabio Utzig5eaa5762020-04-02 13:30:43 -0300114#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_EC256 0x32 /* Key encrypted with ECIES-P256 */
115#define IMAGE_TLV_ENC_X25519 0x33 /* Key encrypted with ECIES-X25519 */
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200116#define IMAGE_TLV_DEPENDENCY 0x40 /* Image depends on other image */
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +0100117#define IMAGE_TLV_SEC_CNT 0x50 /* security counter */
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600118```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800119
120Optional type-length-value records (TLVs) containing image metadata are placed
121after the end of the image.
122
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200123The `ih_protect_tlv_size` field indicates the length of the protected TLV area.
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -0300124If protected TLVs are present then a TLV info header with magic equal to
125`IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` must be present and the protected TLVs (plus the
126info header itself) have to be included in the hash calculation. Otherwise the
127hash is only calculated over the image header and the image itself. In this
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200128case the value of the `ih_protect_tlv_size` field is 0.
129
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600130The `ih_hdr_size` field indicates the length of the header, and therefore the
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800131offset of the image itself. This field provides for backwards compatibility in
132case of changes to the format of the image header.
133
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300134## [Flash Map](#flash-map)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800135
Fabio Utzigac834962017-07-20 13:20:48 -0300136A device's flash is partitioned according to its _flash map_. At a high
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800137level, the flash map maps numeric IDs to _flash areas_. A flash area is a
138region of disk with the following properties:
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06001391. An area can be fully erased without affecting any other areas.
1402. A write to one area does not restrict writes to other areas.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800141
Marti Bolivar4e64d562017-08-04 14:53:33 -0400142The boot loader uses the following flash area IDs:
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100143```c
144/* Independent from multiple image boot */
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100145#define FLASH_AREA_BOOTLOADER 0
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100146#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_SCRATCH 3
147```
148```c
149/* If the boot loader is working with the first image */
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100150#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_PRIMARY 1
151#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_SECONDARY 2
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100152```
153```c
154/* If the boot loader is working with the second image */
155#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_PRIMARY 5
156#define FLASH_AREA_IMAGE_SECONDARY 6
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600157```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800158
Marti Bolivar4e64d562017-08-04 14:53:33 -0400159The bootloader area contains the bootloader image itself. The other areas are
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100160described in subsequent sections. The flash could contain multiple executable
161images therefore the flash area IDs of primary and secondary areas are mapped
162based on the number of the active image (on which the bootloader is currently
163working).
Marti Bolivar4e64d562017-08-04 14:53:33 -0400164
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300165## [Image Slots](#image-slots)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800166
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100167A portion of the flash memory can be partitioned into multiple image areas, each
168contains two image slots: a primary slot and a secondary slot.
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200169Normally, the boot loader will only run an image from the primary slot, so
170images must be built such that they can run from that fixed location in flash
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200171(the exception to this is the [direct-xip](#direct-xip) and the
172[ram-load](#ram-load) upgrade mode). If the boot loader needs to run the
173image resident in the secondary slot, it must copy its contents into the primary
174slot before doing so, either by swapping the two images or by overwriting the
175contents of the primary slot. The bootloader supports either swap- or
176overwrite-based image upgrades, but must be configured at build time to choose
177one of these two strategies.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800178
David Vinczeb75c12a2019-03-22 14:58:33 +0100179In addition to the slots of image areas, the boot loader requires a scratch
180area to allow for reliable image swapping. The scratch area must have a size
181that is enough to store at least the largest sector that is going to be swapped.
182Many devices have small equally sized flash sectors, eg 4K, while others have
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100183variable sized sectors where the largest sectors might be 128K or 256K, so the
184scratch must be big enough to store that. The scratch is only ever used when
185swapping firmware, which means only when doing an upgrade. Given that, the main
186reason for using a larger size for the scratch is that flash wear will be more
187evenly distributed, because a single sector would be written twice the number of
188times than using two sectors, for example. To evaluate the ideal size of the
189scratch for your use case the following parameters are relevant:
Fabio Utziga722f5a2017-12-12 14:04:53 -0200190
191* the ratio of image size / scratch size
192* the number of erase cycles supported by the flash hardware
193
194The image size is used (instead of slot size) because only the slot's sectors
195that are actually used for storing the image are copied. The image/scratch ratio
196is the number of times the scratch will be erased on every upgrade. The number
197of erase cycles divided by the image/scratch ratio will give you the number of
198times an upgrade can be performed before the device goes out of spec.
199
200```
201num_upgrades = number_of_erase_cycles / (image_size / scratch_size)
202```
203
204Let's assume, for example, a device with 10000 erase cycles, an image size of
205150K and a scratch of 4K (usual minimum size of 4K sector devices). This would
206result in a total of:
207
208`10000 / (150 / 4) ~ 267`
209
210Increasing the scratch to 16K would give us:
211
212`10000 / (150 / 16) ~ 1067`
213
214There is no *best* ratio, as the right size is use-case dependent. Factors to
215consider include the number of times a device will be upgraded both in the field
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100216and during development, as well as any desired safety margin on the
217manufacturer's specified number of erase cycles. In general, using a ratio that
218allows hundreds to thousands of field upgrades in production is recommended.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800219
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200220### [Equal slots (direct-xip)](#direct-xip)
221
222When the direct-xip mode is enabled the active image flag is "moved" between the
223slots during image upgrade and in contrast to the above, the bootloader can
224run an image directly from either the primary or the secondary slot (without
225having to move/copy it into the primary slot). Therefore the image update
226client, which downloads the new images must be aware, which slot contains the
227active image and which acts as a staging area and it is responsible for loading
228the proper images into the proper slot. All this requires that the images be
229built to be executed from the corresponding slot. At boot time the bootloader
230first looks for images in the slots and then inspects the version numbers in the
231image headers. It selects the newest image (with the highest version number) and
232then checks its validity (integrity check, signature verification etc.). If the
233image is invalid MCUboot erases its memory slot and starts to validate the other
234image. After a successful validation of the selected image the bootloader
235chain-loads it.
David Vincze505fba22020-10-22 13:53:29 +0200236
237An additional "revert" mechanism is also supported. For more information, please
238read the [corresponding section](#direct-xip-revert).
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200239Handling the primary and secondary slots as equals has its drawbacks. Since the
240images are not moved between the slots, the on-the-fly image
241encryption/decryption can't be supported (it only applies to storing the image
242in an external flash on the device, the transport of encrypted image data is
243still feasible).
244
245The overwrite and the direct-xip upgrade strategies are substantially simpler to
246implement than the image swapping strategy, especially since the bootloader must
247work properly even when it is reset during the middle of an image swap. For this
248reason, the rest of the document describes its behavior when configured to swap
249images during an upgrade.
Marti Bolivara91674f2017-08-04 14:56:08 -0400250
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200251### [RAM Loading](#ram-load)
252
253In ram-load mode the slots are equal. Like the direct-xip mode, this mode
254also selects the newest image by reading the image version numbers in the image
255headers. But instead of executing it in place, the newest image is copied to the
256RAM for execution. The load address, the location in RAM where the image is
257copied to, is stored in the image header. The ram-load upgrade mode can be
258useful when there is no internal flash in the SoC, but there is a big enough
259internal RAM to hold the images. Usually in this case the images are stored
260in an external storage device. Execution from external storage has some
261drawbacks (lower execution speed, image is exposed to attacks) therefore the
262image is always copied to the internal RAM before the authentication and
263execution. Ram-load mode requires the image to be built to be executed from
264the RAM address range instead of the storage device address range. If
265ram-load is enabled then platform must define the following parameters:
266
267```c
268#define IMAGE_EXECUTABLE_RAM_START <area_base_addr>
269#define IMAGE_EXECUTABLE_RAM_SIZE <area_size_in_bytes>
270```
271
272When ram-load is enabled, the `--load-addr <addr>` option of the `imgtool`
273script must also be used when signing the images. This option set the `RAM_LOAD`
274flag in the image header which indicates that the image should be loaded to the
275RAM and also set the load address in the image header.
276
277The ram-load mode currently supports only the single image boot and the image
278encryption feature is not supported.
279
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300280## [Boot Swap Types](#boot-swap-types)
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800281
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400282When the device first boots under normal circumstances, there is an up-to-date
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200283firmware image in each primary slot, which mcuboot can validate and then
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100284chain-load. In this case, no image swaps are necessary. During device upgrades,
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200285however, new candidate image(s) is present in the secondary slot(s), which
286mcuboot must swap into the primary slot(s) before booting as discussed above.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800287
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400288Upgrading an old image with a new one by swapping can be a two-step process. In
289this process, mcuboot performs a "test" swap of image data in flash and boots
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200290the new image or it will be executed during operation. The new image can then
291update the contents of flash at runtime to mark itself "OK", and mcuboot will
292then still choose to run it during the next boot. When this happens, the swap is
293made "permanent". If this doesn't happen, mcuboot will perform a "revert" swap
294during the next boot by swapping the image(s) back into its original location(s)
295, and attempting to boot the old image(s).
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800296
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400297Depending on the use case, the first swap can also be made permanent directly.
298In this case, mcuboot will never attempt to revert the images on the next reset.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800299
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400300Test swaps are supported to provide a rollback mechanism to prevent devices
301from becoming "bricked" by bad firmware. If the device crashes immediately
302upon booting a new (bad) image, mcuboot will revert to the old (working) image
303at the next device reset, rather than booting the bad image again. This allows
304device firmware to make test swaps permanent only after performing a self-test
305routine.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800306
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200307On startup, mcuboot inspects the contents of flash to decide for each images
308which of these "swap types" to perform; this decision determines how it
309proceeds.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800310
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400311The possible swap types, and their meanings, are:
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800312
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600313- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE`: The "usual" or "no upgrade" case; attempt to boot the
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100314 contents of the primary slot.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800315
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100316- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_TEST`: Boot the contents of the secondary slot by swapping
317 images. Unless the swap is made permanent, revert back on the next boot.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800318
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600319- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PERM`: Permanently swap images, and boot the upgraded image
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400320 firmware.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800321
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100322- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_REVERT`: A previous test swap was not made permanent;
323 swap back to the old image whose data are now in the secondary slot. If the
324 old image marks itself "OK" when it boots, the next boot will have swap type
325 `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE`.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800326
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600327- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL`: Swap failed because image to be run is not valid.
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400328
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600329- `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC`: Swapping encountered an unrecoverable error.
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400330
331The "swap type" is a high-level representation of the outcome of the
332boot. Subsequent sections describe how mcuboot determines the swap type from
333the bit-level contents of flash.
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800334
David Vincze505fba22020-10-22 13:53:29 +0200335### [Revert mechanism in direct-xip mode](#direct-xip-revert)
336
337The direct-xip mode also supports a "revert" mechanism which is the equivalent
338of the swap mode's "revert" swap. It can be enabled with the
339MCUBOOT_DIRECT_XIP_REVERT config option and an image trailer must also be added
340to the signed images (the "--pad" option of the `imgtool` script must be used).
341For more information on this please read the [Image Trailer](#image-trailer)
342section and the [imgtool](imgtool.md) documentation. Making the images permanent
343(marking them as confirmed in advance) is also supported just like in swap mode.
344The individual steps of the direct-xip mode's "revert" mechanism are the
345following:
346
3471. Select the slot which holds the newest potential image.
3482. Was the image previously selected to run (during a previous boot)?
349 + Yes: Did the image mark itself "OK" (was the self-test successful)?
350 + Yes.
351 - Proceed to step 3.
352 + No.
353 - Erase the image from the slot to prevent it from being selected
354 again during the next boot.
355 - Return to step 1 (the bootloader will attempt to select and
356 possibly boot the previous image if there is one).
357 + No.
358 - Mark the image as "selected" (set the copy_done flag in the trailer).
359 - Proceed to step 3.
3603. Proceed to image validation ...
361
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300362## [Image Trailer](#image-trailer)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800363
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300364For the bootloader to be able to determine the current state and what actions
Marti Bolivar42818032017-08-04 15:45:01 -0400365should be taken during the current boot operation, it uses metadata stored in
366the image flash areas. While swapping, some of this metadata is temporarily
367copied into and out of the scratch area.
368
369This metadata is located at the end of the image flash areas, and is called an
370image trailer. An image trailer has the following structure:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800371
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600372```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800373 0 1 2 3
374 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
375 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800376 ~ ~
Fabio Utzig2c05f1b2018-04-04 10:35:17 -0300377 ~ Swap status (BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS * min-write-size * 3) ~
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800378 ~ ~
379 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700380 | Encryption key 0 (16 octets) [*] |
381 | |
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800382 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700383 | Encryption key 1 (16 octets) [*] |
384 | |
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300385 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700386 | Swap size (4 octets) |
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300387 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200388 | Swap info | 0xff padding (7 octets) |
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300389 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700390 | Copy done | 0xff padding (7 octets) |
391 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
392 | Image OK | 0xff padding (7 octets) |
393 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
394 | MAGIC (16 octets) |
395 | |
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800396 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600397```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800398
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700399[*]: Only present if the encryption option is enabled (`MCUBOOT_ENC_IMAGES`).
400
Marti Bolivar42818032017-08-04 15:45:01 -0400401The offset immediately following such a record represents the start of the next
402flash area.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800403
404Note: "min-write-size" is a property of the flash hardware. If the hardware
405allows individual bytes to be written at arbitrary addresses, then
406min-write-size is 1. If the hardware only allows writes at even addresses,
407then min-write-size is 2, and so on.
408
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -0400409An image trailer contains the following fields:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800410
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -04004111. Swap status: A series of records which records the progress of an image
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100412 swap. To swap entire images, data are swapped between the two image areas
413 one or more sectors at a time, like this:
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -0400414
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100415 - sector data in the primary slot is copied into scratch, then erased
416 - sector data in the secondary slot is copied into the primary slot,
417 then erased
418 - sector data in scratch is copied into the secondary slot
Marti Bolivar1dcb6852017-08-04 15:59:32 -0400419
420As it swaps images, the bootloader updates the swap status field in a way that
421allows it to compute how far this swap operation has progressed for each
422sector. The swap status field can thus used to resume a swap operation if the
423bootloader is halted while a swap operation is ongoing and later reset. The
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100424`BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS` value is the configurable maximum number of sectors
425mcuboot supports for each image; its value defaults to 128, but allows for
426either decreasing this size, to limit RAM usage, or to increase it in devices
427that have massive amounts of Flash or very small sized sectors and thus require
428a bigger configuration to allow for the handling of all slot's sectors.
429The factor of min-write-sz is due to the behavior of flash hardware. The factor
430of 3 is explained below.
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300431
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07004322. Encryption keys: key-encrypting keys (KEKs). These keys are needed for
433 image encryption and decryption. See the
434 [encrypted images](encrypted_images.md) document for more information.
435
4363. Swap size: When beginning a new swap operation, the total size that needs
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +0000437 to be swapped (based on the slot with largest image + TLVs) is written to
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100438 this location for easier recovery in case of a reset while performing the
439 swap.
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300440
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +00004414. Swap info: A single byte which encodes the following information:
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200442 - Swap type: Stored in bits 0-3. Indicating the type of swap operation in
443 progress. When mcuboot resumes an interrupted swap, it uses this field to
444 determine the type of operation to perform. This field contains one of the
445 following values in the table below.
446 - Image number: Stored in bits 4-7. It has always 0 value at single image
447 boot. In case of multi image boot it indicates, which image was swapped when
448 interrupt happened. The same scratch area is used during in case of all
449 image swap operation. Therefore this field is used to determine which image
450 the trailer belongs to if boot status is found on scratch area when the swap
451 operation is resumed.
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700452
453| Name | Value |
454| ------------------------- | ----- |
455| `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_TEST` | 2 |
456| `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PERM` | 3 |
457| `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_REVERT` | 4 |
458
459
4605. Copy done: A single byte indicating whether the image in this slot is
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600461 complete (0x01=done; 0xff=not done).
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300462
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07004636. Image OK: A single byte indicating whether the image in this slot has been
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600464 confirmed as good by the user (0x01=confirmed; 0xff=not confirmed).
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300465
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -07004667. MAGIC: The following 16 bytes, written in host-byte-order:
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800467
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600468``` c
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800469 const uint32_t boot_img_magic[4] = {
470 0xf395c277,
471 0x7fefd260,
472 0x0f505235,
473 0x8079b62c,
474 };
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600475```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800476
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300477## [IMAGE TRAILERS](#image-trailers)
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300478
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400479At startup, the boot loader determines the boot swap type by inspecting the
480image trailers. When using the term "image trailers" what is meant is the
481aggregate information provided by both image slot's trailers.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300482
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300483### [New swaps (non-resumes)](#new-swaps-non-resumes)
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700484
485For new swaps, mcuboot must inspect a collection of fields to determine which
486swap operation to perform.
487
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100488The image trailers records are structured around the limitations imposed by
489flash hardware. As a consequence, they do not have a very intuitive design, and
490it is difficult to get a sense of the state of the device just by looking at the
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400491image trailers. It is better to map all the possible trailer states to the swap
492types described above via a set of tables. These tables are reproduced below.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300493
494Note: An important caveat about the tables described below is that they must
495be evaluated in the order presented here. Lower state numbers must have a
496higher priority when testing the image trailers.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800497
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600498```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800499 State I
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100500 | primary slot | secondary slot |
501 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
502 magic | Any | Good |
503 image-ok | Any | Unset |
504 copy-done | Any | Any |
505 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
506 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_TEST |
507 -------------------------------------------------'
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300508
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800509
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300510 State II
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100511 | primary slot | secondary slot |
512 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
513 magic | Any | Good |
514 image-ok | Any | 0x01 |
515 copy-done | Any | Any |
516 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
517 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PERM |
518 -------------------------------------------------'
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300519
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800520
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300521 State III
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100522 | primary slot | secondary slot |
523 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
524 magic | Good | Unset |
525 image-ok | 0xff | Any |
526 copy-done | 0x01 | Any |
527 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
528 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_REVERT |
529 -------------------------------------------------'
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600530```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800531
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400532Any of the above three states results in mcuboot attempting to swap images.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800533
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400534Otherwise, mcuboot does not attempt to swap images, resulting in one of the
535other three swap types, as illustrated by State IV.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300536
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600537```
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300538 State IV
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100539 | primary slot | secondary slot |
540 -----------------+--------------+----------------|
541 magic | Any | Any |
542 image-ok | Any | Any |
543 copy-done | Any | Any |
544 -----------------+--------------+----------------'
545 result: BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE, |
546 BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL, or |
547 BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC |
548 -------------------------------------------------'
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600549```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800550
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400551In State IV, when no errors occur, mcuboot will attempt to boot the contents of
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100552the primary slot directly, and the result is `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_NONE`. If the image
553in the primary slot is not valid, the result is `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL`. If a
554fatal error occurs during boot, the result is `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC`. If the
555result is either `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_FAIL` or `BOOT_SWAP_TYPE_PANIC`, mcuboot hangs
556rather than booting an invalid or compromised image.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300557
Marti Bolivar048d8d82017-08-04 17:14:24 -0400558Note: An important caveat to the above is the result when a swap is requested
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100559 and the image in the secondary slot fails to validate, due to a hashing or
560 signing error. This state behaves as State IV with the extra action of
561 marking the image in the primary slot as "OK", to prevent further attempts
562 to swap.
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300563
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300564### [Resumed swaps](#resumed-swaps)
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700565
566If mcuboot determines that it is resuming an interrupted swap (i.e., a reset
567occurred mid-swap), it fully determines the operation to resume by reading the
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +0200568`swap info` field from the active trailer and extracting the swap type from bits
5690-3. The set of tables in the previous section are not necessary in the resume
570case.
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700571
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300572## [High-Level Operation](#high-level-operation)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800573
574With the terms defined, we can now explore the boot loader's operation. First,
575a high-level overview of the boot process is presented. Then, the following
576sections describe each step of the process in more detail.
577
578Procedure:
579
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06005801. Inspect swap status region; is an interrupted swap being resumed?
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300581 + Yes: Complete the partial swap operation; skip to step 3.
582 + No: Proceed to step 2.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800583
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -06005842. Inspect image trailers; is a swap requested?
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300585 + Yes:
586 1. Is the requested image valid (integrity and security check)?
587 + Yes.
588 a. Perform swap operation.
589 b. Persist completion of swap procedure to image trailers.
590 c. Proceed to step 3.
591 + No.
592 a. Erase invalid image.
593 b. Persist failure of swap procedure to image trailers.
594 c. Proceed to step 3.
595
596 + No: Proceed to step 3.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800597
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01005983. Boot into image in primary slot.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800599
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300600### [Multiple Image Boot](#multiple-image-boot)
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200601
602When the flash contains multiple executable images the boot loader's operation
603is a bit more complex but similar to the previously described procedure with
604one image. Every image can be updated independently therefore the flash is
605partitioned further to arrange two slots for each image.
606```
607+--------------------+
608| MCUBoot |
609+--------------------+
610 ~~~~~ <- memory might be not contiguous
611+--------------------+
612| Image 0 |
613| primary slot |
614+--------------------+
615| Image 0 |
616| secondary slot |
617+--------------------+
618 ~~~~~ <- memory might be not contiguous
619+--------------------+
620| Image N |
621| primary slot |
622+--------------------+
623| Image N |
624| secondary slot |
625+--------------------+
626| Scratch |
627+--------------------+
628```
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200629MCUBoot is also capable of handling dependencies between images. For example
630if an image needs to be reverted it might be necessary to revert another one too
631(e.g. due to API incompatibilities) or simply to prevent from being updated
632because of an unsatisfied dependency. Therefore all aborted swaps have to be
633completed and all the swap types have to be determined for each image before
634the dependency checks. Dependency handling is described in more detail in a
635following section. The multiple image boot procedure is organized in loops which
636iterate over all the firmware images. The high-level overview of the boot
637process is presented below.
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200638
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700639+ Loop 1. Iterate over all images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200640 1. Inspect swap status region of current image; is an interrupted swap being
641 resumed?
642 + Yes:
643 + Review the validity of previously determined swap types
644 of other images.
645 + Complete the partial swap operation.
646 + Mark the swap type as `None`.
647 + Skip to next image.
648 + No: Proceed to step 2.
649
650 2. Inspect image trailers in the primary and secondary slot; is an image
651 swap requested?
652 + Yes: Review the validity of previously determined swap types of other
653 images. Is the requested image valid (integrity and security
654 check)?
655 + Yes:
656 + Set the previously determined swap type for the current image.
657 + Skip to next image.
658 + No:
659 + Erase invalid image.
660 + Persist failure of swap procedure to image trailers.
661 + Mark the swap type as `Fail`.
662 + Skip to next image.
663 + No:
664 + Mark the swap type as `None`.
665 + Skip to next image.
666
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700667+ Loop 2. Iterate over all images
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200668 1. Does the current image depend on other image(s)?
669 + Yes: Are all the image dependencies satisfied?
670 + Yes: Skip to next image.
671 + No:
672 + Modify swap type depending on what the previous type was.
673 + Restart dependency check from the first image.
674 + No: Skip to next image.
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200675
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700676+ Loop 3. Iterate over all images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200677 1. Is an image swap requested?
678 + Yes:
679 + Perform image update operation.
680 + Persist completion of swap procedure to image trailers.
681 + Skip to next image.
682 + No: Skip to next image.
683
Martí Bolívara6a0e0e2019-08-08 07:12:54 -0700684+ Loop 4. Iterate over all images
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200685 1. Validate image in the primary slot (integrity and security check) or
686 at least do a basic sanity check to avoid booting into an empty flash
687 area.
688
689+ Boot into image in the primary slot of the 0th image position\
690 (other image in the boot chain is started by another image).
691
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300692## [Image Swapping](#image-swapping)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800693
694The boot loader swaps the contents of the two image slots for two reasons:
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300695
696 * User has issued a "set pending" operation; the image in the secondary slot
Håkon Øye Amundsen11d91c32020-03-04 08:49:47 +0000697 should be run once (state I) or repeatedly (state II), depending on
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300698 whether a permanent swap was specified.
699 * Test image rebooted without being confirmed; the boot loader should
Håkon Øye Amundsen11d91c32020-03-04 08:49:47 +0000700 revert to the original image currently in the secondary slot (state III).
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800701
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300702If the image trailers indicates that the image in the secondary slot should be
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800703run, the boot loader needs to copy it to the primary slot. The image currently
704in the primary slot also needs to be retained in flash so that it can be used
705later. Furthermore, both images need to be recoverable if the boot loader
706resets in the middle of the swap operation. The two images are swapped
707according to the following procedure:
708
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -03007091. Determine if both slots are compatible enough to have their images swapped.
710 To be compatible, both have to have only sectors that can fit into the
711 scratch area and if one of them has larger sectors than the other, it must
712 be able to entirely fit some rounded number of sectors from the other slot.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300713 In the next steps we'll use the terminology "region" for the total amount of
714 data copied/erased because this can be any amount of sectors depending on
715 how many the scratch is able to fit for some swap operation.
7162. Iterate the list of region indices in descending order (i.e., starting
717 with the greatest index); only regions that are predetermined to be part of
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300718 the image are copied; current element = "index".
719 + a. Erase scratch area.
720 + b. Copy secondary_slot[index] to scratch area.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300721 - If this is the last region in the slot, scratch area has a temporary
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300722 status area initialized to store the initial state, because the
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300723 primary slot's last region will have to be erased. In this case,
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300724 only the data that was calculated to amount to the image is copied.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300725 - Else if this is the first swapped region but not the last region in
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300726 the slot, initialize the status area in primary slot and copy the
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300727 full region contents.
728 - Else, copy entire region contents.
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300729 + c. Write updated swap status (i).
730 + d. Erase secondary_slot[index]
731 + e. Copy primary_slot[index] to secondary_slot[index] according to amount
732 previosly copied at step b.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300733 - If this is not the last region in the slot, erase the trailer in the
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300734 secondary slot, to always use the one in the primary slot.
735 + f. Write updated swap status (ii).
736 + g. Erase primary_slot[index].
737 + h. Copy scratch area to primary_slot[index] according to amount
738 previously copied at step b.
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300739 - If this is the last region in the slot, the status is read from
Fabio Utzig60319ac2019-09-06 08:29:50 -0300740 scratch (where it was stored temporarily) and written anew in the
741 primary slot.
742 + i. Write updated swap status (iii).
7433. Persist completion of swap procedure to the primary slot image trailer.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800744
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100745The additional caveats in step 2f are necessary so that the secondary slot image
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800746trailer can be written by the user at a later time. With the image trailer
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100747unwritten, the user can test the image in the secondary slot
Håkon Øye Amundsen11d91c32020-03-04 08:49:47 +0000748(i.e., transition to state I).
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800749
Fabio Utzigc28005b2019-09-10 12:18:29 -0300750Note1: If the region being copied contains the last sector, then swap status is
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300751temporarily maintained on scratch for the duration of this operation, always
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100752using the primary slot's area otherwise.
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300753
754Note2: The bootloader tries to copy only used sectors (based on largest image
755installed on any of the slots), minimizing the amount of sectors copied and
756reducing the amount of time required for a swap operation.
757
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800758The particulars of step 3 vary depending on whether an image is being tested,
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100759permanently used, reverted or a validation failure of the secondary slot
760happened when a swap was requested:
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300761
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800762 * test:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100763 o Write primary_slot.copy_done = 1
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800764 (swap caused the following values to be written:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100765 primary_slot.magic = BOOT_MAGIC
Håkon Øye Amundsencdf94c22020-03-04 08:52:31 +0000766 secondary_slot.magic = UNSET
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100767 primary_slot.image_ok = Unset)
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800768
769 * permanent:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100770 o Write primary_slot.copy_done = 1
Christopher Collinsfd7eb5c2016-12-21 13:46:08 -0800771 (swap caused the following values to be written:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100772 primary_slot.magic = BOOT_MAGIC
Håkon Øye Amundsencdf94c22020-03-04 08:52:31 +0000773 secondary_slot.magic = UNSET
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100774 primary_slot.image_ok = 0x01)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800775
776 * revert:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100777 o Write primary_slot.copy_done = 1
778 o Write primary_slot.image_ok = 1
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300779 (swap caused the following values to be written:
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100780 primary_slot.magic = BOOT_MAGIC)
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300781
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100782 * failure to validate the secondary slot:
783 o Write primary_slot.image_ok = 1
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300784
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100785After completing the operations as described above the image in the primary slot
786should be booted.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800787
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300788## [Swap Status](#swap-status)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800789
790The swap status region allows the boot loader to recover in case it restarts in
791the middle of an image swap operation. The swap status region consists of a
792series of single-byte records. These records are written independently, and
793therefore must be padded according to the minimum write size imposed by the
794flash hardware. In the below figure, a min-write-size of 1 is assumed for
795simplicity. The structure of the swap status region is illustrated below. In
796this figure, a min-write-size of 1 is assumed for simplicity.
797
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600798```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800799 0 1 2 3
800 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
801 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
802 |sec127,state 0 |sec127,state 1 |sec127,state 2 |sec126,state 0 |
803 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
804 |sec126,state 1 |sec126,state 2 |sec125,state 0 |sec125,state 1 |
805 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
806 |sec125,state 2 | |
807 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ +
808 ~ ~
809 ~ [Records for indices 124 through 1 ~
810 ~ ~
811 ~ +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
812 ~ |sec000,state 0 |sec000,state 1 |sec000,state 2 |
813 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600814```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800815
816The above is probably not helpful at all; here is a description in English.
817
818Each image slot is partitioned into a sequence of flash sectors. If we were to
819enumerate the sectors in a single slot, starting at 0, we would have a list of
820sector indices. Since there are two image slots, each sector index would
821correspond to a pair of sectors. For example, sector index 0 corresponds to
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100822the first sector in the primary slot and the first sector in the secondary slot.
823Finally, reverse the list of indices such that the list starts with index
824`BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS - 1` and ends with 0. The swap status region is a
825representation of this reversed list.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800826
827During a swap operation, each sector index transitions through four separate
828states:
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600829```
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +01008300. primary slot: image 0, secondary slot: image 1, scratch: N/A
8311. primary slot: image 0, secondary slot: N/A, scratch: image 1 (1->s, erase 1)
8322. primary slot: N/A, secondary slot: image 0, scratch: image 1 (0->1, erase 0)
8333. primary slot: image 1, secondary slot: image 0, scratch: N/A (s->0)
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600834```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800835
836Each time a sector index transitions to a new state, the boot loader writes a
837record to the swap status region. Logically, the boot loader only needs one
838record per sector index to keep track of the current swap state. However, due
839to limitations imposed by flash hardware, a record cannot be overwritten when
840an index's state changes. To solve this problem, the boot loader uses three
841records per sector index rather than just one.
842
843Each sector-state pair is represented as a set of three records. The record
844values map to the above four states as follows
845
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600846```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800847 | rec0 | rec1 | rec2
848 --------+------+------+------
849 state 0 | 0xff | 0xff | 0xff
850 state 1 | 0x01 | 0xff | 0xff
851 state 2 | 0x01 | 0x02 | 0xff
852 state 3 | 0x01 | 0x02 | 0x03
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600853```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800854
Fabio Utzig2c05f1b2018-04-04 10:35:17 -0300855The swap status region can accommodate `BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS` sector indices.
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100856Hence, the size of the region, in bytes, is
857`BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS * min-write-size * 3`. The only requirement for the index
858count is that it is great enough to account for a maximum-sized image
859(i.e., at least as great as the total sector count in an image slot). If a
860device's image slots have been configured with `BOOT_MAX_IMG_SECTORS: 128` and
861use less than 128 sectors, the first record that gets written will be somewhere
862in the middle of the region. For example, if a slot uses 64 sectors, the first
863sector index that gets swapped is 63, which corresponds to the exact halfway
864point within the region.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800865
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300866Note: since the scratch area only ever needs to record swapping of the last
867sector, it uses at most min-write-size * 3 bytes for its own status area.
868
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300869## [Reset Recovery](#reset-recovery)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800870
871If the boot loader resets in the middle of a swap operation, the two images may
872be discontiguous in flash. Bootutil recovers from this condition by using the
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300873image trailers to determine how the image parts are distributed in flash.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800874
875The first step is determine where the relevant swap status region is located.
876Because this region is embedded within the image slots, its location in flash
Fabio Utzig86fe4b22017-07-28 18:56:29 -0300877changes during a swap operation. The below set of tables map image trailers
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800878contents to swap status location. In these tables, the "source" field
David Vinczeba3bd602019-06-17 16:01:43 +0200879indicates where the swap status region is located. In case of multi image boot
880the images primary area and the single scratch area is always examined in pairs.
881If swap status found on scratch area then it might not belong to the current
882image. The swap_info field of swap status stores the corresponding image number.
883If it does not match then "source: none" is returned.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800884
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600885```
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100886 | primary slot | scratch |
887 ----------+--------------+--------------|
888 magic | Good | Any |
889 copy-done | 0x01 | N/A |
890 ----------+--------------+--------------'
891 source: none |
892 ----------------------------------------'
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -0400893
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100894 | primary slot | scratch |
895 ----------+--------------+--------------|
896 magic | Good | Any |
897 copy-done | 0xff | N/A |
898 ----------+--------------+--------------'
899 source: primary slot |
900 ----------------------------------------'
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -0400901
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100902 | primary slot | scratch |
903 ----------+--------------+--------------|
904 magic | Any | Good |
905 copy-done | Any | N/A |
906 ----------+--------------+--------------'
907 source: scratch |
908 ----------------------------------------'
Marti Bolivar49b29172017-08-04 14:50:51 -0400909
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100910 | primary slot | scratch |
911 ----------+--------------+--------------|
912 magic | Unset | Any |
913 copy-done | 0xff | N/A |
914 ----------+--------------+--------------|
915 source: primary slot |
916 ----------------------------------------+------------------------------+
917 This represents one of two cases: |
918 o No swaps ever (no status to read, so no harm in checking). |
919 o Mid-revert; status in the primary slot. |
920 For this reason we assume the primary slot as source, to trigger a |
921 check of the status area and find out if there was swapping under way. |
922 -----------------------------------------------------------------------'
David Brown17e20d12017-09-12 11:53:20 -0600923```
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800924
Christopher Collinsa1c12042019-05-23 14:00:28 -0700925If the swap status region indicates that the images are not contiguous, mcuboot
926determines the type of swap operation that was interrupted by reading the `swap
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +0000927info` field in the active image trailer and extracting the swap type from bits
David Vinczee2453472019-06-17 12:31:59 +02009280-3 then resumes the operation. In other words, it applies the procedure defined
929in the previous section, moving image 1 into the primary slot and image 0 into
930the secondary slot. If the boot status indicates that an image part is present
931in the scratch area, this part is copied into the correct location by starting
932at step e or step h in the area-swap procedure, depending on whether the part
933belongs to image 0 or image 1.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800934
935After the swap operation has been completed, the boot loader proceeds as though
936it had just been started.
937
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300938## [Integrity Check](#integrity-check)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800939
940An image is checked for integrity immediately before it gets copied into the
Fabio Utzig5bd4e582017-07-20 08:55:38 -0300941primary slot. If the boot loader doesn't perform an image swap, then it can
David Vincze2d736ad2019-02-18 11:50:22 +0100942perform an optional integrity check of the image in the primary slot if
943`MCUBOOT_VALIDATE_PRIMARY_SLOT` is set, otherwise it doesn't perform an
944integrity check.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800945
946During the integrity check, the boot loader verifies the following aspects of
947an image:
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300948
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -0300949 * 32-bit magic number must be correct (`IMAGE_MAGIC`).
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300950 * Image must contain an `image_tlv_info` struct, identified by its magic
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -0300951 (`IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` or `IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC`) exactly following
952 the firmware (`hdr_size` + `img_size`). If `IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` is
953 found then after `ih_protect_tlv_size` bytes, another `image_tlv_info`
954 with magic equal to `IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC` must be present.
Fabio Utzig75b34412019-09-06 08:30:43 -0300955 * Image must contain a SHA256 TLV.
956 * Calculated SHA256 must match SHA256 TLV contents.
957 * Image *may* contain a signature TLV. If it does, it must also have a
958 KEYHASH TLV with the hash of the key that was used to sign. The list of
959 keys will then be iterated over looking for the matching key, which then
960 will then be used to verify the image contents.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800961
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300962## [Security](#security)
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800963
964As indicated above, the final step of the integrity check is signature
965verification. The boot loader can have one or more public keys embedded in it
966at build time. During signature verification, the boot loader verifies that an
Håkon Øye Amundsencbf30472019-07-24 08:34:03 +0000967image was signed with a private key that corresponds to the embedded KEYHASH
Fabio Utzigea422c22017-09-11 11:02:47 -0300968TLV.
Christopher Collins92ea77f2016-12-12 15:59:26 -0800969
970For information on embedding public keys in the boot loader, as well as
Fabio Utzig4dce6aa2018-02-12 15:31:32 -0200971producing signed images, see: [signed_images](signed_images.md).
Fabio Utzigcdfa11a2018-10-01 09:45:54 -0300972
973If you want to enable and use encrypted images, see:
974[encrypted_images](encrypted_images.md).
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +0200975
Tamas Banfe031092020-09-10 17:32:39 +0200976Note: Image encryption is not supported when the direct-xip or the ram-load
977upgrade strategy is selected.
David Vinczee574f2d2020-07-10 11:42:03 +0200978
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +0200979### [Using Hardware Keys for Verification](#hw-key-support)
980
981By default, the whole public key is embedded in the bootloader code and its
982hash is added to the image manifest as a KEYHASH TLV entry. As an alternative
983the bootloader can be made independent of the keys by setting the
984`MCUBOOT_HW_KEY` option. In this case the hash of the public key must be
985provisioned to the target device and mcuboot must be able to retrieve the
986key-hash from there. For this reason the target must provide a definition
987for the `boot_retrieve_public_key_hash()` function which is declared in
988`boot/bootutil/include/bootutil/sign_key.h`. It is also required to use
989the `full` option for the `--public-key-format` imgtool argument in order to
990add the whole public key (PUBKEY TLV) to the image manifest instead of its
991hash (KEYHASH TLV). During boot the public key is validated before using it for
992signature verification, mcuboot calculates the hash of the public key from the
993TLV area and compares it with the key-hash that was retrieved from the device.
994This way mcuboot is independent from the public key(s). The key(s) can be
995provisioned any time and by different parties.
996
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -0300997## [Protected TLVs](#protected-tlvs)
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -0300998
999If the TLV area contains protected TLV entries, by beginning with a `struct
1000image_tlv_info` with a magic value of `IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC` then the
1001data of those TLVs must also be integrity and authenticity protected. Beyond
1002the full size of the protected TLVs being stored in the `image_tlv_info`,
1003the size of the protected TLVs together with the size of the `image_tlv_info`
1004struct itself are also saved in the `ih_protected_size` field inside the
1005header.
1006
1007Whenever an image has protected TLVs the SHA256 has to be calculated over
1008not just the image header and the image but also the TLV info header and the
1009protected TLVs.
1010
1011```
1012A +---------------------+
1013 | Header | <- struct image_header
1014 +---------------------+
1015 | Payload |
1016 +---------------------+
1017 | TLV area |
1018 | +-----------------+ | struct image_tlv_info with
1019 | | TLV area header | | <- IMAGE_TLV_PROT_INFO_MAGIC (optional)
1020 | +-----------------+ |
1021 | | Protected TLVs | | <- Protected TLVs (struct image_tlv)
1022B | +-----------------+ |
1023 | | TLV area header | | <- struct image_tlv_info with IMAGE_TLV_INFO_MAGIC
1024C | +-----------------+ |
1025 | | SHA256 hash | | <- hash from A - B (struct image_tlv)
1026D | +-----------------+ |
1027 | | Keyhash | | <- indicates which pub. key for sig (struct image_tlv)
1028 | +-----------------+ |
1029 | | Signature | | <- signature from C - D (struct image_tlv), only hash
1030 | +-----------------+ |
1031 +---------------------+
1032```
1033
Fabio Utzigd37d8772019-12-03 10:32:18 -03001034## [Dependency Check](#dependency-check)
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001035
1036MCUBoot can handle multiple firmware images. It is possible to update them
1037independently but in many cases it can be desired to be able to describe
1038dependencies between the images (e.g. to ensure API compliance and avoid
1039interoperability issues).
1040
1041The dependencies between images can be described with additional TLV entries in
Fabio Utzigfd140ec2019-09-12 14:37:48 -03001042the protected TLV area after the end of an image. There can be more than one
1043dependency entry, but in practice if the platform only supports two individual
1044images then there can be maximum one entry which reflects to the other image.
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001045
David Vinczee32483f2019-06-13 10:46:24 +02001046At the phase of dependency check all aborted swaps are finalized if there were
1047any. During the dependency check the boot loader verifies whether the image
1048dependencies are all satisfied. If at least one of the dependencies of an image
1049is not fulfilled then the swap type of that image has to be modified
1050accordingly and the dependency check needs to be restarted. This way the number
1051of unsatisfied dependencies will decrease or remain the same. There is always at
1052least 1 valid configuration. In worst case, the system returns to the initial
1053state after dependency check.
1054
1055For more information on adding dependency entries to an image,
1056see: [imgtool](imgtool.md).
Håkon Øye Amundsen2d1bac12020-01-03 13:08:09 +00001057
1058## [Downgrade Prevention](#downgrade-prevention)
1059
1060Downgrade prevention is a feature which enforces that the new image must have a
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001061higher version/security counter number than the image it is replacing, thus
1062preventing the malicious downgrading of the device to an older and possibly
1063vulnerable version of its firmware.
1064
1065### [SW Based Downgrade Prevention](#sw-downgrade-prevention)
1066
1067During the software based downgrade prevention the image version numbers are
1068compared. This feature is enabled with the `MCUBOOT_DOWNGRADE_PREVENTION`
1069option. In this case downgrade prevention is only available when the
1070overwrite-based image update strategy is used (i.e. `MCUBOOT_OVERWRITE_ONLY`
1071is set).
1072
1073### [HW Based Downgrade Prevention](#hw-downgrade-prevention)
1074
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001075Each signed image can contain a security counter in its protected TLV area, which
1076can be added to the image using the `-s` option of the [imgtool](imgtool.md) script.
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001077During the hardware based downgrade prevention (alias rollback protection) the
1078new image's security counter will be compared with the currently active security
1079counter value which must be stored in a non-volatile and trusted component of
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001080the device. It is beneficial to handle this counter independently from image
1081version number:
David Vinczec3084132020-02-18 14:50:47 +01001082
1083 * It does not need to increase with each software release,
1084 * It makes it possible to do software downgrade to some extent: if the
1085 security counter has the same value in the older image then it is accepted.
David Vincze25459bf2020-04-21 17:11:20 +02001086
1087It is an optional step of the image validation process and can be enabled with
1088the `MCUBOOT_HW_ROLLBACK_PROT` config option. When enabled, the target must
1089provide an implementation of the security counter interface defined in
1090`boot/bootutil/include/security_cnt.h`.
1091
1092## [Measured boot and data sharing](#boot-data-sharing)
1093
1094MCUBoot defines a mechanism for sharing boot status information (also known as
1095measured boot) and an interface for sharing application specific information
1096with the runtime software. If any of these are enabled the target must provide
1097a shared data area between the bootloader and runtime firmware and define the
1098following parameters:
1099
1100```c
1101#define MCUBOOT_SHARED_DATA_BASE <area_base_addr>
1102#define MCUBOOT_SHARED_DATA_SIZE <area_size_in_bytes>
1103```
1104
1105In the shared memory area all data entries are stored in a type-length-value
1106(TLV) format. Before adding the first data entry, the whole area is overwritten
1107with zeros and a TLV header is added at the beginning of the area during an
1108initialization phase. This TLV header contains a `tlv_magic` field with a value
1109of `SHARED_DATA_TLV_INFO_MAGIC` and a `tlv_tot_len` field which is indicating
1110the total length of shared TLV area including this header. The header is
1111followed by the the data TLV entries which are composed from a
1112`shared_data_tlv_entry` header and the data itself. In the data header there is
1113a `tlv_type` field which identifies the consumer of the entry (in the runtime
1114software) and specifies the subtype of that data item. More information about
1115the `tlv_type` field and data types can be found in the
1116`boot/bootutil/include/bootutil/boot_status.h` file. The type is followed by a
1117`tlv_len` field which indicates the size of the data entry in bytes, not
1118including the entry header. After this header structure comes the actual data.
1119
1120```c
1121/** Shared data TLV header. All fields in little endian. */
1122struct shared_data_tlv_header {
1123 uint16_t tlv_magic;
1124 uint16_t tlv_tot_len; /* size of whole TLV area (including this header) */
1125};
1126
1127/** Shared data TLV entry header format. All fields in little endian. */
1128struct shared_data_tlv_entry {
1129 uint16_t tlv_type;
1130 uint16_t tlv_len; /* TLV data length (not including this header). */
1131};
1132```
1133
1134The measured boot can be enabled with the `MCUBOOT_MEASURED_BOOT` config option.
1135When enabled, the `--boot_record` argument of the imgtool script must also be
1136used during the image signing process to add a BOOT_RECORD TLV to the image
1137manifest. This TLV contains the following attributes/measurements of the
1138image in CBOR encoded format:
1139
1140 * Software type (role of the software component)
1141 * Software version
1142 * Signer ID (identifies the signing authority)
1143 * Measurement value (hash of the image)
1144 * Measurement type (algorithm used to calculate the measurement value)
1145
1146The `sw_type` string that is passed as the `--boot_record` option's parameter
1147will be the value of the "Software type" attribute in the generated BOOT_RECORD
1148TLV. The target must also define the `MAX_BOOT_RECORD_SZ` macro which indicates
1149the maximum size of the CBOR encoded boot record in bytes.
1150During boot, MCUBoot will look for these TLVs (in case of multiple images) in
1151the manifests of the active images (the latest and validated) and copy the CBOR
1152encoded binary data to the shared data area. Preserving all these image
1153attributes from the boot stage for use by later runtime services (such as an
1154attestation service) is known as a measured boot.
1155
1156Setting the `MCUBOOT_DATA_SHARING` option enables the sharing of application
1157specific data using the same shared data area as for the measured boot. For
1158this, the target must provide a definition for the `boot_save_shared_data()`
1159function which is declared in `boot/bootutil/include/bootutil/boot_record.h`.
1160The `boot_add_data_to_shared_area()` function can be used for adding new TLV
1161entries to the shared data area.
Mate Toth-Palcbf9d392020-11-09 16:47:49 +01001162
1163## [Testing in CI](#testing-in-ci)
1164
1165### [Testing Fault Injection Hardening (FIH)](#testing-fih)
1166
1167The CI currently tests the Fault Injection Hardening feature of MCUboot by
1168executing instruction skip during execution, and looking at whether a corrupted
1169image was booted by the bootloader or not.
1170
1171The main idea is that instruction skipping can be automated by scripting a
1172debugger to automatically execute the following steps:
1173
1174- Set breakpoint at specified address.
1175- Continue execution.
1176- On breakpoint hit increase the Program Counter.
1177- Continue execution.
1178- Detach from target after a timeout reached.
1179
1180Whether or not the corrupted image was booted or not can be decided by looking
1181for certain entries in the log.
1182
1183As MCUboot is deployed on a microcontroller, testing FI would not make much
1184sense in the simulator environment running on a host machine with different
1185architecture than the MCU's, as the degree of hardening depends on compiler
1186behavior. For example, (a bit counterintuitively) the code produced by gcc
1187with `-O0` optimisation is more resilient against FI attacks than the code
1188generated with `-O3` or `-Os` optimizations.
1189
1190To run on a desired architecture in the CI, the tests need to be executed on an
1191emulator (as real devices are not available in the CI environment). For this
1192implementation QEMU is selected.
1193
1194For the tests MCUboot needs a set of drivers and an implementation of a main
1195function. For the purpose of this test Trusted-Firmware-M has been selected as
1196it supports Armv8-M platforms that are also emulated by QEMU.
1197
1198The tests run in a docker container inside the CI VMs, to make it more easy to
1199deploy build and test environment (QEMU, compilers, interpreters). The CI VMs
1200seems to be using quite old Ubuntu (16.04).
1201
1202The sequence of the testing is the following (pseudo code):
1203
1204```sh
1205fn main()
1206 # Implemented in ci/fih-tests_install.sh
1207 generate_docker_image(Dockerfile)
1208
1209 # See details below. Implemented in ci/fih-tests_run.sh.
1210 # Calling the function with different parameters is done by Travis CI based on
1211 # the values provided in the .travis.yaml
1212 start_docker_image(skip_sizes, build_type, damage_type, fih_level)
1213
1214fn start_docker_image(skip_sizes, build_type, damage_type, fih_level)
1215 # implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/execute_test.sh
1216 compile_mcuboot(build_type)
1217
1218 # implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/damage_image.py
1219 damage_image(damage_type)
1220
1221 # implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/run_fi_test.sh
1222 ranges = generate_address_ranges()
1223 for s in skip_sizes
1224 for r in ranges
1225 do_skip_in_qemu(s, r) # See details below
1226 evaluate_logs()
1227
1228fn do_skip_in_qemu(size, range)
1229 for a in r
1230 run_qemu(a, size) # See details below
1231
1232# this part is implemented in ci/fih_test_docker/fi_tester_gdb.sh
1233fn run_qemu(a, size)
1234 script = create_debugger_script(a, size)
1235 start_qemu_in_bacground() # logs serial out to a file
1236 gdb_attach_to_qemu(script)
1237 kill_qemu()
1238
1239 # This checks the debugger and the quemu logs, and decides whether the tets
1240 # was executed successfully, and whether the image is booted or not. Then
1241 # emits a yaml fragment on the standard out to be processed by the caller
1242 # script
1243 evaluate_run(qemu_log_file)
1244```
1245
1246Further notes:
1247
1248- The image is corrupted by changing its signature.
1249- MCUBOOT_FIH_PROFILE_MAX is not tested as it requires TRNG, and the AN521
1250platform has no support for it. However this profile adds the random
1251execution delay to the code, so should not affect the instruction skip results
1252too much, because break point is placed at exact address. But in practice this
1253makes harder the accurate timing of the attack.
1254- The test cases defined in .travis.yml always return `passed`, if they were
1255executed successfully. A yaml file is created during test execution with the
1256details of the test execution results. A summary of the collected results is
1257printed in the log at the end of the test.
1258
1259An advantage of having the tests running in a docker image is that it is
1260possible to run the tests on a local machine that has git and docker, without
1261installing any additional software.
1262
1263So, running the test on the host looks like the following (The commands below
1264are issued from the MCUboot source directory):
1265
1266```sh
1267$ ./ci/fih-tests_install.sh
1268$ FIH_LEVEL=MCUBOOT_FIH_PROFILE_MEDIUM BUILD_TYPE=RELEASE SKIP_SIZE=2 \
1269 DAMAGE_TYPE=SIGNATURE ./ci/fih-tests_run.sh
1270```
1271On the travis CI the environment variables in the last command are set based on
1272the configs provided in the `.travis.yaml`
1273
1274This starts the tests, however the shell that it is running in is not
1275interactive, it is not possible to examine the results of the test run. To have
1276an interactive shell where the results can be examined, the following can be
1277done:
1278
1279- The docker image needs to be built with `ci/fih-tests_install.sh` as described
1280 above.
1281- Start the docker image with the following command:
1282 `docker run -i -t mcuboot/fih-test`.
1283- Execute the test with a command similar to the following:
1284 `/root/execute_test.sh 8 RELEASE SIGNATURE MEDIUM`. After the test finishes,
1285 the shell returns, and it is possible to investigate the results. It is also
1286 possible to stop the test with _Ctrl+c_. The parameters to the
1287 `execute_test.sh` are `SKIP_SIZE`, `BUILD_TYPE`, `DAMAGE_TYPE`, `FIH_LEVEL` in
1288 order.