Managing firmware update attempts
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- one or more processors; and
a memory device including instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;
store a value of a secure counter as an expected value within a secure location;
provision a guest operating system to enable a user to remotely access the guest operating system via a network connection, the guest operating system having direct, non-virtualized access to at least one device of a host system;
cause the secure counter to be updated for at least one attempted modification of configuration information for the at least one device;
determine, based at least in part on a current value of the secure counter as compared to the expected value, whether the guest operating system attempted to modify the configuration information for the at least one device; and
perform at least one action with respect to at least one of the host system or the at least one device in response to determining that the current value of the secure counter does not correspond to the expected value.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Attempts to update confirmation information or firmware for a hardware device can be monitored using a secure counter that is configured to monotonically adjust a current value of the secure counter for each update or update attempt. The value of the counter can be determined every time the validity of the firmware is confirmed, and this value can be stored to a secure location. At subsequent times, such as during a boot process, the actual value of the counter can be determined and compared with the expected value. If the values do not match, such that the firmware may be in an unexpected state, an action can be taken, such as to prevent access to, or isolate, the hardware until such time as the firmware can be validated or updated to an expected state.
103 Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A system, comprising:
-
one or more processors; and a memory device including instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to; store a value of a secure counter as an expected value within a secure location; provision a guest operating system to enable a user to remotely access the guest operating system via a network connection, the guest operating system having direct, non-virtualized access to at least one device of a host system; cause the secure counter to be updated for at least one attempted modification of configuration information for the at least one device; determine, based at least in part on a current value of the secure counter as compared to the expected value, whether the guest operating system attempted to modify the configuration information for the at least one device; and perform at least one action with respect to at least one of the host system or the at least one device in response to determining that the current value of the secure counter does not correspond to the expected value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
-
provisioning a guest operating system having direct, non-virtualized access to at least one device of a host system; causing a counter to be updated for at least one attempted modification of configuration information for the at least one device; and performing at least one action with respect to at least one of the host system or the at least one device in response to a determination that a value of the counter does not correspond to an expected value, wherein the expected value is stored in a location inaccessible to the guest operating system. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
-
18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for managing configuration of a computing system, the instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
-
store a first value of a counter as an expected value; provision a guest operating system having direct, non-virtualized access to at least one device of a host system; cause the counter to be updated for at least one attempted modification of configuration information for the at least one device; determine, based at least in part on the first value of the counter, whether the guest operating system attempted to modify the configuration information for the at least one device; and perform at least one action with respect to at least one of the host system or the at least one device in response to determining that a second value of the counter does not correspond to the expected value. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
-
Specification