Re: [PATCHv2 1/5] firmware: stratix10-svc: add COMMAND_AUTHENTICATE_BITSTREAM flag

From: Richard Gong
Date: Tue Dec 01 2020 - 14:11:26 EST



Hi Moritz,

On 11/30/20 10:31 PM, Moritz Fischer wrote:
Hi Richard,

On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 12:55:44PM -0600, Richard Gong wrote:

Hi Moritz,

Sorry for late reply, I was out last week.

No worries, usually I'm late with replies ;-)

On 11/21/20 7:10 PM, Moritz Fischer wrote:
Richard,

On Wed, Nov 18, 2020 at 12:16:09PM -0600, Richard Gong wrote:

-#define COMMAND_RECONFIG_FLAG_PARTIAL 1
+#define COMMAND_RECONFIG_FLAG_PARTIAL 0
+#define COMMAND_AUTHENTICATE_BITSTREAM 1

Can you explain how this commit by itself doesn't break things?

Before this change firmware expected BIT(0) to be set for partial
reconfiguration, now BIT(0) suddenly means authentication? How doest his
work? :)
> Was there a firmware version change? Did this never work before?

If this is version depenedent for firmware, then this might need a
different compatible string / id / some form of probing?

Entirely possible that I'm missing something, but it doesn't *seem*
right.

It did work before.

Before this change, firmware only checks if the received flag value is zero.
If the value is zero, it preforms full reconfiguration. Otherwise it does
partial reconfiguration.

To support bitstream authentication feature, firmware is updated to check
the received flag value as below:
0 --- full reconfiguration
BIT(0) --- partial reconfiguration
BIT(1) --- bitstream authentication

So there are two different versions of firmware involved that behave
differently?

Old firmware:
- ctype.flags = 0x0 -> Full reconfig
- ctype.flags != 0 -> Partial reconfig

New firmware:
- ctype.flags = 0x0 -> Full reconfig
- ctype.flags = 0x1 -> Partial reconfig
- ctype.flags = 0x2 -> Authenticate

Old software:
- Send 0x0 for Full
- Send 0x1 for Partial

New software:
- Send 0x0 for Full
- Send 0x1 for Partial
- Send 0x2 for Auth

If I send request for authentication BIT(1) (new software) to old
firmware it'd try and attempt a partial reconfiguration with the data I
send? Is that safe?


Yes, it is possible and it is not safe. But we will inform our customers
they should update to the latest firmware (SDM firmware and ATF) if they
want to have authentication feature.

We are migrating boot loader boot flow to the new ATF boot flow, which is
SDM firmware -> SPL -> ATF -> U-boot proper -> Linux. The new authentication
feature is supported only in the new ATF boot flow. ATF communicates with
SDM firmware via mailbox, and SDM firmware performs the actual full/partial
reconfiguration and bitstream authentication. ATF sets up EL3 environment
and initializes PSCI services.

Can U-Boot determine whether it's the new or old flow? Can you set a
different compatible value in your device-tree, to disambiguate
behaviors?


The boot flow is determined by defconfig during compilation, which means each boot flow will have its own defconfig.

SDM firmware loads SPL into OCRAM, then SPL will load the apporiate ATF or U-boot into the DRAM according to the setting of CONFIG_SPL_ATF. If CONFIG_SPL_ATF=y, SPL loads ATF and then jumps to ATF. ATF setups EL3 environment and initialize the PSCI services.

CONFIG_SPL_ATF is not set for the old boot flow.

The old boot flow is SDM firmware -> SPL -> U-boot proper -> Linux, which
SPL/U-boot handles PSCI services and communicates with SDM firmware via
mailbox. SDM firmware performs the actual full/partial reconfiguration.

ATF = Arm Trust Firmware, SDM = Secure Device Manager

Is there a way for software to figure out the firmware version and do
the right thing?

It is not feasible for kernel driver to get the firmware version per current
designs and implementations. I don't think there is other way around this.


Therefore I have updated the command flag setting at Intel service layer
driver to align with firmware.

Regards,
Richard

/**
* Timeout settings for service clients:
--
2.7.4


Cheers,
Moritz


Thanks,
Moritz

Regards,
Richard

Thanks,
Moritz

Regards,
Richard