Data verification using enclave attestation

• US 10,176,344 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2017
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Inventors: Smith, Ned, Gutierrez, Esteban, Woodruff, Andrew, Kapoor, Aditya
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Teshome
• Application Number:
  US15/658,367
• Publication Number:
  US 20180018476A1
• Time in Patent Office: 533 Days
• Field of Search: 713161
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/566 Dynamic detection, i.e. detection performed at run-time, e.g. emulation, suspicious activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6281 at program execution time, where the protection is within the operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/032 Protect output to user by software means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party

Abstract

Particular embodiments described herein provide for an electronic device that can be configured to receive untrusted input data at an enclave in an electronic device, isolate the untrusted input data from at least a portion of the enclave, communicate at least a portion of the untrusted data to an integrity verification module using an attestation channel, and receive data integrity verification of the untrusted input data from the integrity verification module. The integrity verification module can perform data integrity attestation functions to verify the untrusted data and the data integrity attestation functions include a data attestation policy and a whitelist.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

receive untrusted data for input to an application residing in a protected region of memory of an electronic device;

isolate the untrusted data for input from the protected region of memory;

communicate at least a portion of the untrusted data for input over an attestation channel for data integrity verification by a data integrity attestation function that includes a data attestation policy specifying constraints on input values for the application;

receive data integrity verification of the untrusted data for input, based on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input conforms to the data attestation policy, via the attestation channel; and

return the verified untrusted data for input to the application for processing.

2. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data integrity attestation function further includes a whitelist, and wherein the data integrity verification is based further on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input is included in the whitelist.

3. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the application further includes an indicator that indicates the application is to be used with data integrity verification.

4. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in the electronic device.

5. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in the protected region of memory.

6. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a server that is remote from the electronic device.

7. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a cloud that is remote from the electronic device.

8. An apparatus comprising:

memory, wherein the memory comprises a protected region; and

a processor, the processor configured to;

receive untrusted data for input to an application residing in a protected region of memory of an electronic device;

isolate the untrusted data for input from the protected region of memory;

communicate at least a portion of the untrusted data for input over an attestation channel for data integrity verification by a data integrity attestation function that includes a data attestation policy specifying constraints on input values for the application;

receive data integrity verification of the untrusted data for input, based on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input conforms to the data attestation policy, via the attestation channel; and

return the verified untrusted data for input to the application for processing.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data integrity attestation function further includes a whitelist, and wherein the data integrity verification is based further on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input is included in the whitelist.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the application further includes an indicator that indicates the application is to be used with data integrity verification.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in the electronic device.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in the protected region of memory.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a server that is remote from the electronic device.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a cloud that is remote from the electronic device.

15. A method comprising:

receiving untrusted data for input to an application residing in a protected region of memory of an electronic device;

isolating the untrusted data for input from the protected region of memory;

communicating at least a portion of the untrusted data for input over an attestation channel for data integrity verification by a data integrity attestation function that includes a data attestation policy specifying constraints on input values for the application;

receiving data integrity verification of the untrusted data for input, based on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input conforms to the data attestation policy, via the attestation channel; and

returning the verified untrusted data for input to the application for processing.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the data integrity attestation function further includes a whitelist, and wherein the data integrity verification is based further on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input is included in the whitelist.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the application further includes an indicator that indicates the application is to be used with data integrity verification.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in the electronic device.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in the protected region of memory.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a server that is remote from the electronic device.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a cloud that is remote from the electronic device.

22. A system for data integrity verification, the system comprising:

memory, wherein the memory comprises a protected region; and

a processor, the processor configured for;

receiving untrusted data for input to an application residing in a protected region of memory of an electronic device;

isolating the untrusted data for input from the protected region of memory;

communicating at least a portion of the untrusted data for input over an attestation channel for data integrity verification by a data integrity attestation function that includes a data attestation policy specifying constraints on input values for the application;

receiving data integrity verification of the untrusted data for input, based on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input conforms to the data attestation policy, via the attestation channel; and

returning the verified untrusted data for input to the application for processing.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the data integrity attestation function further includes a whitelist, and wherein the data integrity verification is based further on a determination that the at least a portion of the untrusted data for input is included in the whitelist.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the application further includes an indicator that indicates the application is to be used with data integrity verification.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the data integrity attestation function is located in a cloud that is remote from the electronic device.