INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD THEREFOR

• US 20170010881A1
• Filed: 07/05/2016
• Published: 01/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Kawazu, Ayuta
• Granted Patent: US 9,965,268 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/14 Error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in operation G06F11/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1433 during software upgrading
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/654 using techniques specially adapted for alterable solid state memories, e.g. for EEPROM or flash memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management

Abstract

This invention prevents rollback of firmware of an information processing apparatus. The apparatus including a security chip includes a counter which holds a value which monotonically increases, a version management unit which manages a current version number of software in the apparatus, a first verification unit which verifies validity of update software of the software and a version number of the update software, a rollback detection unit which detects whether a version of the update software is newer than a version of the current software, an update unit which updates the software using the update software, and a second verification unit which verifies whether the update unit has successfully updated the software. If the software has been successfully updated, the version management unit increases the value held in the counter until the value matches the version number of the update software.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus including a security chip, comprising:

a counter unit configured to hold a counter value which monotonically increases;

a version management unit configured to manage a current version number of software in the information processing apparatus by the counter value held in the counter unit;

a first verification unit configured to verify validity of update software of the software and a version number of the update software;

a rollback detection unit configured to detect, by comparing the version number of the update software with the current version number of the software held in the counter unit, whether a version of the update software is newer than a version of the current software;

an update unit configured to update the software using the update software if the rollback detection unit determines that the version of the update software is newer than the version of the current software; and

a second verification unit configured to verify whether the update unit has successfully updated the software,

wherein if the second verification unit determines that the software has been successfully updated, the version management unit increases the version number held in the counter unit until the version number matches the version number of the update software.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a saving unit serving as an access controllable nonvolatile memory,

wherein if the version management unit requests to increase the version number, the counter unit requests an authorization secret as a password, and if

the authorization secret is correct, increases the version number held in the counter unit, and the authorization secret is saved in the saving unit which undergoes access control to be accessible when no software activated in the information processing apparatus is altered.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the authorization secret is saved in the saving unit which undergoes access control to be accessible when an OS of the information processing apparatus is inactive.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the first verification unit uses a root certificate as a public key certificate to verify, by a digital signature, validity of the update software of the software and the version number of the update software, and

the root certificate is saved in the saving unit which undergoes access control to be accessible when no software activated in the information processing apparatus is altered.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the authorization secret is encrypted using the security chip so as to be decrypted when no software activated in the information processing apparatus is altered.

6. A control method for an information processing apparatus using a security chip, comprising:

holding a counter value which monotonically increases;

managing a current version number of software by the counter value;

verifying validity of update software of the software and a version number of the update software;

detecting, by comparing the version number of the update software with the current version number of the software indicated by the counter value, whether a version of the update software is newer than a version of the current software;

updating the software using the update software if it is determined that the version of the update software is newer than the version of the current software; and

verifying whether the software has been successfully updated,

wherein if it is determined, in the verifying whether the software has been successfully updated, that the software has been successfully updated, the version number indicated by the counter value is increased in the managing until the version number matches the version number of the update software.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program to be executed by a processor of an information processing apparatus using a security chip, wherein the processor

holds a counter value which monotonically increases,

manages a current version number of software by the counter value,

verifies validity of update software of the software and a version number of the update software,

detects, by comparing the version number of the update software with the current version number of the software indicated by the counter value, whether a version of the update software is newer than a version of the current software,

updates the software using the update software if it is determined that the version of the update software is newer than the version of the current software, and

verifies whether the software has been successfully updated, and

if it is determined in the verification that the software has been successfully updated, the version number indicated by the counter value is increased in the management until the version number matches the version number of the update software.

8. An information processing apparatus using a security chip which holds a counter unit capable of monotonically increasing a counter, comprising:

a management unit configured to manage a version number of software of the information processing apparatus by the counter of the counter unit; and

an update unit configured to update the software,

wherein if the update by the update unit succeeds, the management unit increases the counter of the counter unit up to a version number of the software after the update, and

if the update by the update unit fails, the update unit returns the software to the software before the update.