Technique to support co-location and certification of executable content from a pre-boot space into an operating system runtime environment

• US 6,978,018 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2001
• Issued: 12/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zimmer, Vincent J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Peeso, Thomas R.
• Application Number:
  US09/967,434
• Publication Number:
  US 20030097581A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 380/30, 713/200, 713/201
• US Class Current: 380/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4411 Configuring for operating with peripheral devices; Loading of device drivers

Abstract

Techniques to support co-location and certification of executable content from a pre-boot space into an operating system kernel mode runtime environment. The invention enables platform firmware runtime drivers to be loaded into memory as executable images during a pre-boot process and subsequently mapped into an operating system'"'"'s runtime environment when the operating system is booted so as to enable runtime services provided by the platform firmware runtime drivers to be called via operating system interfaces. Prior to loading the executable images, a type certification check that compares type structure information corresponding to a runtime driver'"'"'s opcode with type structure information corresponding to an operating system interface used to call the runtime driver may be performed. Additionally, a runtime driver file integrity verification may also be performed using a digital signature and associated key. The runtime driver may be loaded from various platform storage devices, including flash devices and option ROMs.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating a runtime driver file including opcode corresponding to a runtime driver that performs a service when executed by a processor and type metadata describing type structure information pertaining to the opcode;

determining type structure information corresponding to an operating system interface; and

performing a type certification check of the runtime driver by comparing the type structure information corresponding to the opcode against the type structure information corresponding to the operating system interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the runtime driver to be called by the operating system via the operating system interface if the certification check is passed.

3. The method of claim 2, where in enabling the runtime driver to be called by the operating system via the operating system interface comprises co-locating an executable image corresponding to the runtime driver into an operating system runtime environment.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the operating system runtime environment comprises a memory space that is only accessible to a kernel mode of the operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

signing the runtime driver file with a digital signature; and

verifying an integrity of the runtime driver file using a digital signature key to determine whether the runtime driver has been altered from an original form.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the runtime driver corresponds to an extensible firmware interface (EFI) runtime driver.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the runtime driver file is created by performing the operations of:

compiling source code corresponding to the runtime driver into a typed assembly language comprising assembly language instructions that are annotated with type structure information;

generating an executable image comprising opcode and any required runtime data corresponding to the type assembly language instructions and writing the executable image to the runtime driver file;

extracting type metadata pertaining to the type structure information and storing the type metadata in the runtime driver file.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the typed assembly language comprises the TALx86 language.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the runtime driver file is stored in an option ROM.

10. A method comprising:

loading an executable image corresponding to a platform firmware runtime driver into a computer system memory prior to booting an operating system that runs on the computer system;

mapping a portion of the computer system memory in which the executable image is loaded into a runtime environment corresponding to the operating system; and

enabling the executable image to be called by the operating system as a runtime service.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the portion of memory in which the executable image is loaded is mapped into the operating system such that it is only accessible to an operating system kernel mode.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the platform firmware runtime driver is stored in a platform firmware device as a runtime driver file comprising opcode that performs a service when called by an operating system interface and type metadata describing type structure information pertaining to the opcode, further comprising performing a type certification check of the platform firmware runtime driver by comparing the type structure information corresponding to the opcode against type structure information corresponding to the operating system interface.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the platform firmware runtime driver is stored in a platform firmware device as a runtime driver file including a digital signature used to authenticate the runtime driver file, further comprising verifying an integrity of the runtime driver file using a digital signature key to determine whether the runtime driver file has been altered from an original form.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the platform firmware runtime driver is stored in an option ROM contained on an adapter card.

15. A machine-readable media on which a plurality of machine are stored that when executed by a machine perform the operations of:

performing a type certification check of a platform firmware runtime driver stored in a platform firmware device as a runtime driver file comprising opcode that performs a service when called by an operating system interface and type metadata describing type structure information pertaining to the opcode by comparing the type structure information corresponding to the opcode against type structure information corresponding to the operating system interface.

16. The machine-readable media of claim 15, wherein the type certification check is performed prior to booting an operating system corresponding to the operating system interface that runs on the machine.

17. The machine-readable media of claim 15, wherein execution of the machine instructions by the machine further performs the operation of loading an executable image corresponding to the platform firmware runtime driver into a machine memory.

18. The machine-readable media of claim 15, wherein the runtime driver file further includes a digital signature used to authenticate the runtime driver file, and wherein execution of the machine instructions by the machine further performs the operation of verifying an integrity of the runtime driver file using a digital signature key to determine whether the runtime driver file has been altered from an original form.

19. The machine-readable media of claim 15, wherein the platform firmware device comprises an option ROM contained on an adapter card.

20. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a platform firmware storage device, operatively coupled to the processor, in which a runtime driver file corresponding to a platform firmware runtime driver is stored; and

a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored that when executed by the processor performs the operations of;

loading an executable image corresponding to the platform firmware runtime driver into the memory prior to booting an operating system that runs on the computer system;

mapping a portion of the memory in which the executable image is loaded into a runtime environment corresponding to the operating system; and

enabling the executable image to be called by the operating system as a runtime service.

21. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the portion of memory in which the executable image is loaded is mapped into the operating system such that it is only accessible to an operating system kernel mode.

22. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the runtime driver file comprises opcode that performs the runtime service when called by an operating system interface and type metadata describing type structure information pertaining to the opcode, and wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions by the processor further performs the operation of performing a type certification check of the platform firmware runtime driver by comparing the type structure information corresponding to the opcode against type structure information corresponding to the operating system interface.

23. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the runtime driver file includes a digital signature used to authenticate the runtime driver file, and wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions by the processor further performs the operation of verifying an integrity of the runtime driver file using a digital signature key to determine whether the runtime driver file has been altered from an original form.

24. The computer system of claim 20, wherein the computer system further includes an adapter card operatively coupled to the processor and wherein the platform firmware storage device comprises an option ROM contained on the adapter card.

25. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a platform firmware storage device, operatively coupled to the processor, in which a runtime driver file corresponding to a platform firmware runtime driver is stored, said runtime driver file comprising opcode that performs a service when called by an operating system interface and type metadata describing type structure information pertaining to the opcode; and

a memory in which a plurality of machine instructions are stored that when executed by the processor performs the operations of performing a type certification check of the platform firmware runtime driver by comparing the type structure information corresponding to the opcode against type structure information corresponding to the operating system interface.

26. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the computer system runs an operating system that provides the operating system interface and wherein the type certification check is performed prior to booting the operating system.

27. The computer system of claim 25, wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions by the processor further performs the operation of loading an executable image corresponding to the platform firmware runtime driver into the memory.

28. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the runtime driver file further includes a digital signature used to authenticate the runtime driver file, and wherein execution of the plurality of machine instructions by the processor further performs the operation of verifying an integrity of the runtime driver file using a digital signature key to determine whether the runtime driver file has been altered from an original form.

29. The computer system of claim 25, wherein the computer system further includes an adapter card operatively coupled to the processor and wherein the platform firmware storage device comprises an option ROM contained on the adapter card.