Attesting a Component of a System During a Boot Process

• US 20120084549A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mackintosh, David N., Perez, Jose J.P., Walker, James W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,869,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/31 User authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/575 Secure boot
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2141 Access rights, e.g. capability lists, access control lists, access tables, access matrices

Abstract

A method, apparatus and program product for attesting a component of a system during a boot process. The method comprises the steps of: verifying that the system is in a trusted state; in response to verifying that the system is in a trusted state, requesting an enrollment of the system wherein the requesting step further comprises the step of: retrieving enrollment data associated with the system; retrieving current input data associated with the component of the system; comparing the current input data against the enrollment data in order to determine whether the system can retain its trusted state; wherein in response to the comparing step, if the current input data matches the enrollment data, the system retains its trusted state; and accepting the trusted state until receipt of a notification, from the system having a retained trusted state, of an update to the system.

Claims

1. A method for attesting a component of a system during a boot process, comprising steps of:

verifying that the system is in a trusted state;

in response to verifying that the system is in a trusted state, requesting an enrollment of the system, wherein the requesting step further comprises retrieving enrollment data associated with the system;

retrieving current input data associated with the component of the system;

comparing the current input data against the enrollment data in order to determine whether the system can retain its trusted state;

if the current input data matches the enrollment data in response to the comparing step, the system retains its trusted state; and

accepting the trusted state until receipt of a notification, from the system having a retained trusted state, of an update to the system.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising the steps of:

retrieving updated current input data associated with the component in response to a notification being received; and

storing the updated current input data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

retrieving further current input data associated with the component of the system; and

comparing the further current input data against the updated current input data in order to determine whether the system can retain its trusted state.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein if the further current input data matches the updated current input data in response to the comparing the further current input data step, the system retains its trusted state.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the enrollment data is replaced with the updated current input data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

setting values associated with the updated current input data to null.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the enrollment data comprises a measurement value of the component;

an event log identifier and a public key of the system.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the updated current input data comprises an updated measurement value of the component;

an updated event log identifier and a public key of the system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the verifying step comprises at least one of:

inspection of the system and asserting a trusted state assumption associated with a period between initial installation of the system and the current input data being generated.

19. A computer program comprising computer program code stored on a computer readable storage medium to, when loaded into a computer system and executed thereon, cause said computer system to perform all the steps of the method according to claim 1.

10. An apparatus for attesting a component of a system during a boot process, comprising a processor coupled to a memory that contains instructions that are executable by the processor to perform steps of:

verifying that the system is in a trusted state;

in response to verifying that the system is in a trusted state, requesting an enrollment of the system, wherein the requesting step further comprises retrieving enrollment data associated with the system;

retrieving current input data associated with the component of the system;

comparing the current input data against the enrollment data in order to determine whether the system can retain its trusted state;

if the current input data matches the enrollment data in response to the comparing step, the system retains its trusted state; and

accepting the trusted state until receipt of a notification, from the system having a retained trusted state, of an update to the system.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:

retrieving updated current input data associated with the component in response to a notification being received; and

storing the updated current input data.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

retrieving further current input data associated with the component of the system; and

comparing the further current input data against the updated current input data in order to determine whether the system can retain its trusted state.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein if the further current input data matches the updated current input data in response to the comparing of the further current input data, the system retains its trusted state.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the enrollment data is replaceable with the updated current input data.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

setting values associated with the updated current input data to null.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the enrollment data comprises a measurement value of the component;

an event log identifier and a public key of the system.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the updated current input data comprises an updated measurement value of the component;

an updated event log identifier and a public key of the system.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the verifying step comprises at least one of:

inspecting the system and asserting a trusted state assumption associated with a period between initial installation of the system and the current input data being generated.