| =============== | 
 | NVDIMM Security | 
 | =============== | 
 |  | 
 | 1. Introduction | 
 | --------------- | 
 |  | 
 | With the introduction of Intel Device Specific Methods (DSM) v1.8 | 
 | specification [1], security DSMs are introduced. The spec added the following | 
 | security DSMs: "get security state", "set passphrase", "disable passphrase", | 
 | "unlock unit", "freeze lock", "secure erase", and "overwrite". A security_ops | 
 | data structure has been added to struct dimm in order to support the security | 
 | operations and generic APIs are exposed to allow vendor neutral operations. | 
 |  | 
 | 2. Sysfs Interface | 
 | ------------------ | 
 | The "security" sysfs attribute is provided in the nvdimm sysfs directory. For | 
 | example: | 
 | /sys/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/ACPI0012:00/ndbus0/nmem0/security | 
 |  | 
 | The "show" attribute of that attribute will display the security state for | 
 | that DIMM. The following states are available: disabled, unlocked, locked, | 
 | frozen, and overwrite. If security is not supported, the sysfs attribute | 
 | will not be visible. | 
 |  | 
 | The "store" attribute takes several commands when it is being written to | 
 | in order to support some of the security functionalities: | 
 | update <old_keyid> <new_keyid> - enable or update passphrase. | 
 | disable <keyid> - disable enabled security and remove key. | 
 | freeze - freeze changing of security states. | 
 | erase <keyid> - delete existing user encryption key. | 
 | overwrite <keyid> - wipe the entire nvdimm. | 
 | master_update <keyid> <new_keyid> - enable or update master passphrase. | 
 | master_erase <keyid> - delete existing user encryption key. | 
 |  | 
 | 3. Key Management | 
 | ----------------- | 
 |  | 
 | The key is associated to the payload by the DIMM id. For example: | 
 | # cat /sys/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/ACPI0012:00/ndbus0/nmem0/nfit/id | 
 | 8089-a2-1740-00000133 | 
 | The DIMM id would be provided along with the key payload (passphrase) to | 
 | the kernel. | 
 |  | 
 | The security keys are managed on the basis of a single key per DIMM. The | 
 | key "passphrase" is expected to be 32bytes long. This is similar to the ATA | 
 | security specification [2]. A key is initially acquired via the request_key() | 
 | kernel API call during nvdimm unlock. It is up to the user to make sure that | 
 | all the keys are in the kernel user keyring for unlock. | 
 |  | 
 | A nvdimm encrypted-key of format enc32 has the description format of: | 
 | nvdimm:<bus-provider-specific-unique-id> | 
 |  | 
 | See file ``Documentation/security/keys/trusted-encrypted.rst`` for creating | 
 | encrypted-keys of enc32 format. TPM usage with a master trusted key is | 
 | preferred for sealing the encrypted-keys. | 
 |  | 
 | 4. Unlocking | 
 | ------------ | 
 | When the DIMMs are being enumerated by the kernel, the kernel will attempt to | 
 | retrieve the key from the kernel user keyring. This is the only time | 
 | a locked DIMM can be unlocked. Once unlocked, the DIMM will remain unlocked | 
 | until reboot. Typically an entity (i.e. shell script) will inject all the | 
 | relevant encrypted-keys into the kernel user keyring during the initramfs phase. | 
 | This provides the unlock function access to all the related keys that contain | 
 | the passphrase for the respective nvdimms.  It is also recommended that the | 
 | keys are injected before libnvdimm is loaded by modprobe. | 
 |  | 
 | 5. Update | 
 | --------- | 
 | When doing an update, it is expected that the existing key is removed from | 
 | the kernel user keyring and reinjected as different (old) key. It's irrelevant | 
 | what the key description is for the old key since we are only interested in the | 
 | keyid when doing the update operation. It is also expected that the new key | 
 | is injected with the description format described from earlier in this | 
 | document.  The update command written to the sysfs attribute will be with | 
 | the format: | 
 | update <old keyid> <new keyid> | 
 |  | 
 | If there is no old keyid due to a security enabling, then a 0 should be | 
 | passed in. | 
 |  | 
 | 6. Freeze | 
 | --------- | 
 | The freeze operation does not require any keys. The security config can be | 
 | frozen by a user with root privelege. | 
 |  | 
 | 7. Disable | 
 | ---------- | 
 | The security disable command format is: | 
 | disable <keyid> | 
 |  | 
 | An key with the current passphrase payload that is tied to the nvdimm should be | 
 | in the kernel user keyring. | 
 |  | 
 | 8. Secure Erase | 
 | --------------- | 
 | The command format for doing a secure erase is: | 
 | erase <keyid> | 
 |  | 
 | An key with the current passphrase payload that is tied to the nvdimm should be | 
 | in the kernel user keyring. | 
 |  | 
 | 9. Overwrite | 
 | ------------ | 
 | The command format for doing an overwrite is: | 
 | overwrite <keyid> | 
 |  | 
 | Overwrite can be done without a key if security is not enabled. A key serial | 
 | of 0 can be passed in to indicate no key. | 
 |  | 
 | The sysfs attribute "security" can be polled to wait on overwrite completion. | 
 | Overwrite can last tens of minutes or more depending on nvdimm size. | 
 |  | 
 | An encrypted-key with the current user passphrase that is tied to the nvdimm | 
 | should be injected and its keyid should be passed in via sysfs. | 
 |  | 
 | 10. Master Update | 
 | ----------------- | 
 | The command format for doing a master update is: | 
 | update <old keyid> <new keyid> | 
 |  | 
 | The operating mechanism for master update is identical to update except the | 
 | master passphrase key is passed to the kernel. The master passphrase key | 
 | is just another encrypted-key. | 
 |  | 
 | This command is only available when security is disabled. | 
 |  | 
 | 11. Master Erase | 
 | ---------------- | 
 | The command format for doing a master erase is: | 
 | master_erase <current keyid> | 
 |  | 
 | This command has the same operating mechanism as erase except the master | 
 | passphrase key is passed to the kernel. The master passphrase key is just | 
 | another encrypted-key. | 
 |  | 
 | This command is only available when the master security is enabled, indicated | 
 | by the extended security status. | 
 |  | 
 | [1]: http://pmem.io/documents/NVDIMM_DSM_Interface-V1.8.pdf | 
 |  | 
 | [2]: http://www.t13.org/documents/UploadedDocuments/docs2006/e05179r4-ACS-SecurityClarifications.pdf |