US 11,698,972 B2 · Method to securely transfer root of trust responsibilities on a common shared motherboard

Abstract

In general, embodiments of the invention relate to implementing a secure boot process in information handling systems that supports both an external root of trust (eRoT) and an internal root of trust (RoT). Further, embodiments of the invention relate to binding a management controller to a specific chassis and, in the case where the eRoT is used, to an eRoT. When the management controller and the chassis are provisioned according to one or more embodiments of the invention, security checks may be performed by management controller executing an initial program loader (IPL) using the aforementioned bindings. If the bindings are not present or do not match, then the boot process halts and the user is unable to use the information handling system.

Claims19

Dependent claims

An information handling system, comprising:

a chassis comprising chassis storage;
and
a motherboard located within the chassis comprising a management controller, wherein the management controller comprises controller storage,
wherein the controller storage comprises a unique encryption key and a root of trust (RoT) identifier,
wherein the chassis storage comprises an encrypted value generated by encrypting the RoT identifier with the unique encryption key,
wherein the management controller is programmed to:
after being powered on and prior to initiating a boot loader:
requesting the encrypted value from the chassis storage;
receiving the encrypted value from the chassis storage;
decrypting the encrypted value for the chassis storage using the unique encryption key to obtain a decrypted value;
and
initiating the boot loader when the decrypted value equals the RoT identifier.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method to securely transfer root of trust responsibilities on a common shared motherboard

Life of this patent

Method to securely transfer root of trust responsibilities on a common shared motherboard

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims19