Updating software

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10108413-B2
Application number	US-201614994110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2016
Priority date	Jan 19, 2011
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for updating software. In particular this invention relates to a method, system and computer program for updating an operating system in a hypervisor comprising: determining a new version of a component of the operating system; installing the new component version;
measuring an identifying characteristic of the component and making it available to an attestation system; notifying the attestation system that a component has been updated to a new version whereby, when the attestation system finds that the identifying characteristic of the new component does not match a pre-stored attestation value it is aware that a legitimate mis-match could have occurred. The installing of the new version of the component comprises: identifying an updater associated with new version of the component; measuring an identifying characteristic of the identified updater; loading and installing the new version of the component; and making both the identifying measurement of the updater and the new version of the component available to the attestation system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
establishing, using a hypervisor, a chain of trust for a first set of boot components, wherein the hypervisor represents a trust anchor for the chain of trust;
loading, using a boot process, the first set of boot components in the chain of trust;
loading, with respect to the set of boot components, an update forming part of the chain of trust during the boot process in an execution environment;
notifying an attestation system, by the hypervisor, of the update;
detecting, for the set of boot components, a set of boot component measurements including measuring, by the attestation system, the update for an update measurement while preventing the hypervisor from accessing the attestation system;
retrieving, by the attestation system, the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components;
comparing, by the attestation system, the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components with a set of stored attestation values;
determining, by the attestation system and based on comparing the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components with the set of stored attestation values, a pass indication for the update with respect to the set of boot components, the pass indication being responsive to the detected set of boot component measurements matching the set of stored attestation values or a non-matching value of the detected set of boot component measurements being an updater measuring the update measurement and a fail indication being determined where the non-matching value is not an updater measuring the update measurement;
responsive to the pass indication, modifying, in a platform configuration register, the set of stored attestation values to include the update measurement while preventing the hypervisor from accessing the attestation system;
notifying, by the attestation system, the hypervisor of the pass indication; and
performing, by the hypervisor, in response to the pass indication, the update for the set of boot components.

2. A computer system comprising:
a hardware processor set; and
a computer readable storage medium;
wherein:
the processor set is structured, located, connected, and/or programmed to run program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium; and
the program instructions which, when executed by the processor set, cause the processor set to perform an update for a set of boot components by:
establishing, using a hypervisor, a chain of trust for a first set of boot components, wherein the hypervisor represents a trust anchor for the chain of trust;
loading, using a boot process, the first set of boot components in the chain of trust;
loading, with respect to the set of boot components, an update forming part of the chain of trust during the boot process in an execution environment;
notifying an attestation system, by the hypervisor, of the update;
detecting, for the set of boot components, a set of boot component measurements including measuring, by the attestation system, the update for an update measurement while preventing the hypervisor from accessing the attestation system;
retrieving, by the attestation system, the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components;
comparing, by the attestation system, the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components with a set of stored attestation values;
determining, by the attestation system and based on comparing the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components with the set of stored attestation values, a pass indication for the update with respect to the set of boot components, the pass indication being responsive to the detected set of boot component measurements matching the set of stored attestation values or a non-matching value of the detected set of boot component measurements being an updater measuring the update measurement and a fail indication being determined where the non-matching value is not an updater measuring the update measurement;
responsive to the pass indication, modifying, in a platform configuration register, the set of stored attestation values to include the update measurement while preventing the hypervisor from accessing the attestation system;
notifying, by the attestation system, the hypervisor of the pass indication; and
performing, by the hypervisor, in response to the pass indication, the update for the set of boot components.

3. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a set of instructions stored therein which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform an update for a set of boot components by:
establishing, using a hypervisor, a chain of trust for a first set of boot components, wherein the hypervisor represents a trust anchor for the chain of trust;
loading, using a boot process, the first set of boot components in the chain of trust;
loading, with respect to the set of boot components, an update forming part of the chain of trust during the boot process in an execution environment;
notifying an attestation system, by the hypervisor, of the update;
detecting, for the set of boot components, a set of boot component measurements including measuring, by the attestation system, the update for an update measurement while preventing the hypervisor from accessing the attestation system;
retrieving, by the attestation system, the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components;
comparing, by the attestation system, the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components with a set of stored attestation values;
determining, by the attestation system and based on comparing the detected set of boot component measurements for the set of boot components with the set of stored attestation values, a pass indication for the update with respect to the set of boot components, the pass indication being responsive to the detected set of boot component measurements matching the set of stored attestation values or a non-matching value of the detected set of boot component measurements being an updater measuring the update measurement and a fail indication being determined where the non-matching value is not an updater measuring the update measurement;
responsive to the pass indication, modifying, in a platform configuration register, the set of stored attestation values to include the update measurement while preventing the hypervisor from accessing the attestation system;
notifying, by the attestation system, the hypervisor of the pass indication; and
performing, by the hypervisor, in response to the pass indication, the update for the set of boot components.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Gilbert David A
• Haikney David
• Walker James W

Classifications

• G06F21/575

  Secure boot · CPC title

• G06F21/57

  Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F8/65 Primary

  Updates (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title

• G06F8/60

  Software deployment · CPC title