A Firmware Update Architecture for Internet of Things Devices
draft-ietf-suit-architecture-06

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SUIT                                                            B. Moran
Internet-Draft                                               Arm Limited
Intended status: Informational                                 M. Meriac
Expires: March 16, 2020                                       Consultant
                                                           H. Tschofenig
                                                             Arm Limited
                                                                D. Brown
                                                                  Linaro
                                                      September 13, 2019

     A Firmware Update Architecture for Internet of Things Devices
                    draft-ietf-suit-architecture-06

Abstract

   Vulnerabilities with Internet of Things (IoT) devices have raised the
   need for a solid and secure firmware update mechanism that is also
   suitable for constrained devices.  Incorporating such update
   mechanism to fix vulnerabilities, to update configuration settings as
   well as adding new functionality is recommended by security experts.

   This document lists requirements and describes an architecture for a
   firmware update mechanism suitable for IoT devices.  The architecture
   is agnostic to the transport of the firmware images and associated
   meta-data.

   This version of the document assumes asymmetric cryptography and a
   public key infrastructure.  Future versions may also describe a
   symmetric key approach for very constrained devices.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on March 16, 2020.

Moran, et al.            Expires March 16, 2020                 [Page 1]
Internet-Draft      IoT Firmware Update Architecture      September 2019

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   than English.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  Conventions and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Requirements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     3.1.  Agnostic to how firmware images are distributed . . . . .   7
     3.2.  Friendly to broadcast delivery  . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.3.  Use state-of-the-art security mechanisms  . . . . . . . .   8
     3.4.  Rollback attacks must be prevented  . . . . . . . . . . .   8
     3.5.  High reliability  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.6.  Operate with a small bootloader . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     3.7.  Small Parsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     3.8.  Minimal impact on existing firmware formats . . . . . . .  10
     3.9.  Robust permissions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     3.10. Operating modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     3.11. Suitability to software and personalization data  . . . .  12
   4.  Claims  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  13