1 U-Boot FIT Signature Verification
2 =================================
6 FIT supports hashing of images so that these hashes can be checked on
7 loading. This protects against corruption of the image. However it does not
8 prevent the substitution of one image for another.
10 The signature feature allows the hash to be signed with a private key such
11 that it can be verified using a public key later. Provided that the private
12 key is kept secret and the public key is stored in a non-volatile place,
13 any image can be verified in this way.
15 See verified-boot.txt for more general information on verified boot.
20 Some familiarity with public key cryptography is assumed in this section.
22 The procedure for signing is as follows:
24 - hash an image in the FIT
25 - sign the hash with a private key to produce a signature
26 - store the resulting signature in the FIT
28 The procedure for verification is:
31 - obtain the public key
32 - extract the signature from the FIT
33 - hash the image from the FIT
34 - verify (with the public key) that the extracted signature matches the
37 The signing is generally performed by mkimage, as part of making a firmware
38 image for the device. The verification is normally done in U-Boot on the
44 In principle any suitable algorithm can be used to sign and verify a hash.
45 At present only one class of algorithms is supported: SHA1 hashing with RSA.
46 This works by hashing the image to produce a 20-byte hash.
48 While it is acceptable to bring in large cryptographic libraries such as
49 openssl on the host side (e.g. mkimage), it is not desirable for U-Boot.
50 For the run-time verification side, it is important to keep code and data
51 size as small as possible.
53 For this reason the RSA image verification uses pre-processed public keys
54 which can be used with a very small amount of code - just some extraction
55 of data from the FDT and exponentiation mod n. Code size impact is a little
56 under 5KB on Tegra Seaboard, for example.
58 It is relatively straightforward to add new algorithms if required. If
59 another RSA variant is needed, then it can be added to the table in
60 image-sig.c. If another algorithm is needed (such as DSA) then it can be
61 placed alongside rsa.c, and its functions added to the table in image-sig.c
65 Creating an RSA key pair and certificate
66 ----------------------------------------
67 To create a new public/private key pair, size 2048 bits:
69 $ openssl genpkey -algorithm RSA -out keys/dev.key \
70 -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_bits:2048 -pkeyopt rsa_keygen_pubexp:65537
72 To create a certificate for this containing the public key:
74 $ openssl req -batch -new -x509 -key keys/dev.key -out keys/dev.crt
76 If you like you can look at the public key also:
78 $ openssl rsa -in keys/dev.key -pubout
83 The following properties are required in the FIT's signature node(s) to
84 allow the signer to operate. These should be added to the .its file.
85 Signature nodes sit at the same level as hash nodes and are called
86 signature-1, signature-2, etc.
88 - algo: Algorithm name (e.g. "sha1,rsa2048")
90 - key-name-hint: Name of key to use for signing. The keys will normally be in
91 a single directory (parameter -k to mkimage). For a given key <name>, its
92 private key is stored in <name>.key and the certificate is stored in
95 When the image is signed, the following properties are added (mandatory):
97 - value: The signature data (e.g. 256 bytes for 2048-bit RSA)
99 When the image is signed, the following properties are optional:
101 - timestamp: Time when image was signed (standard Unix time_t format)
103 - signer-name: Name of the signer (e.g. "mkimage")
105 - signer-version: Version string of the signer (e.g. "2013.01")
107 - comment: Additional information about the signer or image
109 For config bindings (see Signed Configurations below), the following
110 additional properties are optional:
112 - sign-images: A list of images to sign, each being a property of the conf
113 node that contains then. The default is "kernel,fdt" which means that these
114 two images will be looked up in the config and signed if present.
116 For config bindings, these properties are added by the signer:
118 - hashed-nodes: A list of nodes which were hashed by the signer. Each is
119 a string - the full path to node. A typical value might be:
121 hashed-nodes = "/", "/configurations/conf-1", "/images/kernel",
122 "/images/kernel/hash-1", "/images/fdt-1",
123 "/images/fdt-1/hash-1";
125 - hashed-strings: The start and size of the string region of the FIT that
128 Example: See sign-images.its for an example image tree source file and
129 sign-configs.its for config signing.
134 In order to verify an image that has been signed with a public key we need to
135 have a trusted public key. This cannot be stored in the signed image, since
136 it would be easy to alter. For this implementation we choose to store the
137 public key in U-Boot's control FDT (using CONFIG_OF_CONTROL).
139 Public keys should be stored as sub-nodes in a /signature node. Required
142 - algo: Algorithm name (e.g. "sha1,rsa2048")
144 Optional properties are:
146 - key-name-hint: Name of key used for signing. This is only a hint since it
147 is possible for the name to be changed. Verification can proceed by checking
148 all available signing keys until one matches.
150 - required: If present this indicates that the key must be verified for the
151 image / configuration to be considered valid. Only required keys are
152 normally verified by the FIT image booting algorithm. Valid values are
153 "image" to force verification of all images, and "conf" to force verification
154 of the selected configuration (which then relies on hashes in the images to
157 Each signing algorithm has its own additional properties.
159 For RSA the following are mandatory:
161 - rsa,num-bits: Number of key bits (e.g. 2048)
162 - rsa,modulus: Modulus (N) as a big-endian multi-word integer
163 - rsa,exponent: Public exponent (E) as a 64 bit unsigned integer
164 - rsa,r-squared: (2^num-bits)^2 as a big-endian multi-word integer
165 - rsa,n0-inverse: -1 / modulus[0] mod 2^32
168 Signed Configurations
169 ---------------------
170 While signing images is useful, it does not provide complete protection
171 against several types of attack. For example, it it possible to create a
172 FIT with the same signed images, but with the configuration changed such
173 that a different one is selected (mix and match attack). It is also possible
174 to substitute a signed image from an older FIT version into a newer FIT
177 As an example, consider this FIT:
182 data = <data for kernel1>
184 algo = "sha1,rsa2048";
185 value = <...kernel signature 1...>
189 data = <data for kernel2>
191 algo = "sha1,rsa2048";
192 value = <...kernel signature 2...>
196 data = <data for fdt1>;
198 algo = "sha1,rsa2048";
199 vaue = <...fdt signature 1...>
203 data = <data for fdt2>;
205 algo = "sha1,rsa2048";
206 vaue = <...fdt signature 2...>
223 Since both kernels are signed it is easy for an attacker to add a new
224 configuration 3 with kernel 1 and fdt 2:
242 With signed images, nothing protects against this. Whether it gains an
243 advantage for the attacker is debatable, but it is not secure.
245 To solve this problem, we support signed configurations. In this case it
246 is the configurations that are signed, not the image. Each image has its
247 own hash, and we include the hash in the configuration signature.
249 So the above example is adjusted to look like this:
254 data = <data for kernel1>
257 value = <...kernel hash 1...>
261 data = <data for kernel2>
264 value = <...kernel hash 2...>
268 data = <data for fdt1>;
271 value = <...fdt hash 1...>
275 data = <data for fdt2>;
278 value = <...fdt hash 2...>
288 algo = "sha1,rsa2048";
289 value = <...conf 1 signature...>;
296 algo = "sha1,rsa2048";
297 value = <...conf 1 signature...>;
304 You can see that we have added hashes for all images (since they are no
305 longer signed), and a signature to each configuration. In the above example,
306 mkimage will sign configurations/conf-1, the kernel and fdt that are
307 pointed to by the configuration (/images/kernel-1, /images/kernel-1/hash-1,
308 /images/fdt-1, /images/fdt-1/hash-1) and the root structure of the image
309 (so that it isn't possible to add or remove root nodes). The signature is
310 written into /configurations/conf-1/signature-1/value. It can easily be
311 verified later even if the FIT has been signed with other keys in the
317 FITs are verified when loaded. After the configuration is selected a list
318 of required images is produced. If there are 'required' public keys, then
319 each image must be verified against those keys. This means that every image
320 that might be used by the target needs to be signed with 'required' keys.
322 This happens automatically as part of a bootm command when FITs are used.
325 Enabling FIT Verification
326 -------------------------
327 In addition to the options to enable FIT itself, the following CONFIGs must
330 CONFIG_FIT_SIGNATURE - enable signing and verification in FITs
331 CONFIG_RSA - enable RSA algorithm for signing
333 WARNING: When relying on signed FIT images with required signature check
334 the legacy image format is default disabled by not defining
335 CONFIG_IMAGE_FORMAT_LEGACY
339 An easy way to test signing and verification is to use the test script
340 provided in test/vboot/vboot_test.sh. This uses sandbox (a special version
341 of U-Boot which runs under Linux) to show the operation of a 'bootm'
342 command loading and verifying images.
344 A sample run is show below:
346 $ make O=sandbox sandbox_config
348 $ O=sandbox ./test/vboot/vboot_test.sh
349 Simple Verified Boot Test
350 =========================
352 Please see doc/uImage.FIT/verified-boot.txt for more information
354 /home/hs/ids/u-boot/sandbox/tools/mkimage -D -I dts -O dtb -p 2000
357 Build FIT with signed images
358 Test Verified Boot Run: unsigned signatures:: OK
360 Test Verified Boot Run: signed images: OK
361 Build FIT with signed configuration
362 Test Verified Boot Run: unsigned config: OK
364 Test Verified Boot Run: signed config: OK
365 check signed config on the host
368 Test Verified Boot Run: signed config: OK
369 Test Verified Boot Run: signed config with bad hash: OK
371 Build FIT with signed images
372 Test Verified Boot Run: unsigned signatures:: OK
374 Test Verified Boot Run: signed images: OK
375 Build FIT with signed configuration
376 Test Verified Boot Run: unsigned config: OK
378 Test Verified Boot Run: signed config: OK
379 check signed config on the host
382 Test Verified Boot Run: signed config: OK
383 Test Verified Boot Run: signed config with bad hash: OK
388 Hardware Signing with PKCS#11
389 -----------------------------
391 Securely managing private signing keys can challenging, especially when the
392 keys are stored on the file system of a computer that is connected to the
393 Internet. If an attacker is able to steal the key, they can sign malicious FIT
394 images which will appear genuine to your devices.
396 An alternative solution is to keep your signing key securely stored on hardware
397 device like a smartcard, USB token or Hardware Security Module (HSM) and have
398 them perform the signing. PKCS#11 is standard for interfacing with these crypto
402 Smartcard/USB token/HSM which can work with the pkcs11 engine
404 libp11 (provides pkcs11 engine)
405 p11-kit (recommended to simplify setup)
406 opensc (for smartcards and smartcard like USB devices)
407 gnutls (recommended for key generation, p11tool)
409 The following examples use the Nitrokey Pro. Instructions for other devices may vary.
411 Notes on pkcs11 engine setup:
413 Make sure p11-kit, opensc are installed and that p11-kit is setup to use opensc.
414 /usr/share/p11-kit/modules/opensc.module should be present on your system.
417 Generating Keys On the Nitrokey:
421 Reader ...........: Nitrokey Nitrokey Pro (xxxxxxxx0000000000000000) 00 00
422 Application ID ...: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
423 Version ..........: 2.1
424 Manufacturer .....: ZeitControl
425 Serial number ....: xxxxxxxx
426 Name of cardholder: [not set]
427 Language prefs ...: de
428 Sex ..............: unspecified
429 URL of public key : [not set]
430 Login data .......: [not set]
431 Signature PIN ....: forced
432 Key attributes ...: rsa2048 rsa2048 rsa2048
433 Max. PIN lengths .: 32 32 32
434 PIN retry counter : 3 0 3
435 Signature counter : 0
436 Signature key ....: [none]
437 Encryption key....: [none]
438 Authentication key: [none]
439 General key info..: [none]
442 Make off-card backup of encryption key? (Y/n) n
444 Please note that the factory settings of the PINs are
445 PIN = '123456' Admin PIN = '12345678'
446 You should change them using the command --change-pin
448 What keysize do you want for the Signature key? (2048) 4096
449 The card will now be re-configured to generate a key of 4096 bits
450 Note: There is no guarantee that the card supports the requested size.
451 If the key generation does not succeed, please check the
452 documentation of your card to see what sizes are allowed.
453 What keysize do you want for the Encryption key? (2048) 4096
454 The card will now be re-configured to generate a key of 4096 bits
455 What keysize do you want for the Authentication key? (2048) 4096
456 The card will now be re-configured to generate a key of 4096 bits
457 Please specify how long the key should be valid.
458 0 = key does not expire
459 <n> = key expires in n days
460 <n>w = key expires in n weeks
461 <n>m = key expires in n months
462 <n>y = key expires in n years
463 Key is valid for? (0)
464 Key does not expire at all
465 Is this correct? (y/N) y
467 GnuPG needs to construct a user ID to identify your key.
470 Email address: john.doe@email.com
472 You selected this USER-ID:
473 "John Doe <john.doe@email.com>"
475 Change (N)ame, (C)omment, (E)mail or (O)kay/(Q)uit? o
478 Using p11tool to get the token URL:
480 Depending on system configuration, gpg-agent may need to be killed first.
482 $ p11tool --provider /usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so --list-tokens
484 URL: pkcs11:model=PKCS%2315%20emulated;manufacturer=ZeitControl;serial=000xxxxxxxxx;token=OpenPGP%20card%20%28User%20PIN%20%28sig%29%29
485 Label: OpenPGP card (User PIN (sig))
487 Manufacturer: ZeitControl
488 Model: PKCS#15 emulated
494 URL: pkcs11:model=PKCS%2315%20emulated;manufacturer=ZeitControl;serial=000xxxxxxxxx;token=OpenPGP%20card%20%28User%20PIN%29
495 Label: OpenPGP card (User PIN)
497 Manufacturer: ZeitControl
498 Model: PKCS#15 emulated
502 Use the portion of the signature token URL after "pkcs11:" as the keydir argument (-k) to mkimage below.
505 Use the URL of the token to list the private keys:
507 $ p11tool --login --provider /usr/lib/opensc-pkcs11.so --list-privkeys \
508 "pkcs11:model=PKCS%2315%20emulated;manufacturer=ZeitControl;serial=000xxxxxxxxx;token=OpenPGP%20card%20%28User%20PIN%20%28sig%29%29"
509 Token 'OpenPGP card (User PIN (sig))' with URL 'pkcs11:model=PKCS%2315%20emulated;manufacturer=ZeitControl;serial=000xxxxxxxxx;token=OpenPGP%20card%20%28User%20PIN%20%28sig%29%29' requires user PIN
512 URL: pkcs11:model=PKCS%2315%20emulated;manufacturer=ZeitControl;serial=000xxxxxxxxx;token=OpenPGP%20card%20%28User%20PIN%20%28sig%29%29;id=%01;object=Signature%20key;type=private
515 Flags: CKA_PRIVATE; CKA_NEVER_EXTRACTABLE; CKA_SENSITIVE;
518 Use the label, in this case "Signature key" as the key-name-hint in your FIT.
521 $ ./tools/mkimage -f fit-image.its fitImage
524 Sign the fitImage with the hardware key:
526 $ ./tools/mkimage -F -k \
527 "model=PKCS%2315%20emulated;manufacturer=ZeitControl;serial=000xxxxxxxxx;token=OpenPGP%20card%20%28User%20PIN%20%28sig%29%29" \
528 -K u-boot.dtb -N pkcs11 -r fitImage
533 - Roll-back protection using a TPM is done using the tpm command. This can
534 be scripted, but we might consider a default way of doing this, built into
540 - Add support for other RSA/SHA variants, such as rsa4096,sha512.
541 - Other algorithms besides RSA
542 - More sandbox tests for failure modes
543 - Passwords for keys/certificates
544 - Perhaps implement OAEP
545 - Enhance bootm to permit scripted signature verification (so that a script
546 can verify an image but not actually boot it)