Information processing device, information processing system, and non-transitory computer readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12333003-B2
Application number	US-202217929619-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 2, 2022
Priority date	Jan 27, 2022
Publication date	Jun 17, 2025
Grant date	Jun 17, 2025

Abstract

An information processing device, includes: a metadata generator generating, based on an update request of firmware, first metadata including identification of the firmware; a time manager; a validity period determiner determining a first validity period for the first metadata based on time acquired from the time manager; a counter counting up a value per unit time; an acquirer acquiring a first counter value of the counter for the first metadata; a storage storing entries in which second metadata including identification of firmware, a second validity period of the second metadata, and a second counter value of the counter having been acquired for the second metadata are associated; and a determiner detecting the second metadata including same identification as the first metadata, acquire the second validity period and the second counter value from the entry including the detected second metadata, and detecting falsification of the first validity period.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An information processing device, comprising:
a metadata generator implemented by a computer configured to generate, based on an update request of firmware from a device, first metadata including identification information of the firmware, the first metadata being separated from the firmware;
a time manager implemented by the computer configured to manage time;
a validity period determiner implemented by the computer configured to determine a first validity period of the first metadata based on time acquired from the time manager;
a counter configured to count up a value for each unit of time elapsed based on a clock oscillator;
an acquirer implemented by the computer configured to acquire a first counter value being a value of the counter with respect to the first metadata;
a storage configured to store one or more entries each including second metadata, a second validity period, and a second counter value, wherein the second metadata includes identification information of firmware, the second validity period is a validity period of the second metadata, and the second counter value is a value of the counter having been acquired with respect to the second metadata, the second metadata being separated from the firmware; and
a determiner implemented by the computer configured to:
(a) detect, from the one or more entries, an entry including the second metadata including same identification information as the identification information included in the first metadata,
(b) acquire the second validity period and the second counter value from the detected entry, and
(c) detect falsification of the first validity period based on the first counter value and the first validity period and the acquired second counter value and the acquired second validity period.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the determiner is configured to:
(c1) calculate an elapsed period being a difference between the first validity period and the acquired second validity period and an elapsed count being a difference between the first counter value and the acquired second counter value,
(c2) calculate a value that is counted up during a time corresponding to the elapsed period based on a value that is counted up during the unit time of the counter, and
(c3) detect the falsification by comparing the calculated value and the elapsed count with each other.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2 , wherein
the determiner does not detect the falsification if a difference between the value and the elapsed count is equal to or smaller than a threshold.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a time receiver configured to receive time information distributed by a time server, wherein
the time manager is configured to correct the time based on the time information.

5. The information processing device according to claim 4 , wherein
a falsification of the first validity period is triggered by a change to the distributed time information caused by an attack on the time server by a third party.

6. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a metadata transmission permissibility determiner configured to determine a permissibility of transmission of the first metadata based on a result of detection of falsification of the first validity period as determined by the determiner; and
a device communicator configured to transmit the first metadata to the device when transmission of the first metadata is determined to be permissible.

7. The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a metadata source storage configured to store identification information of the firmware, wherein
the metadata generator is configured to generate the first metadata from the identification information stored in the metadata source storage.

8. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the identification information includes an identifier that uniquely identifies the firmware and an integrity verification hash value that verifies an integrity of the firmware.

9. The information processing device according to claim 8 , wherein
the identifier includes a firmware name and a firmware version of the firmware.

10. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
the counter is configured to perform count-up using a CPU register.

11. The information processing device according to claim 1 , comprising:
at least two or more of the counter; and
a counter corrector configured to correct the first counter value that is based on the counter, using the first counter value that is based on a different one of the counters.

12. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
when a falsification of the first validity period is not detected by the determiner, a first entry including the first metadata, the first validity period, and the first counter value is stored in the storage.

13. The information processing device according to claim 12 , wherein
when the entry in which the second metadata includes same identification information as the identification information included in the first metadata is present in the storage, the storage is configured to overwrite the entry based on the first entry.

14. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein
a falsification of the first validity period is triggered by a change to the time caused by an attack on the time manager by a third party.

15. An information processing system, comprising:
a first information processing device and a second information processing device, wherein
the first information processing device includes: a time manager implemented by a first computer configured to manage time; and a validity period determiner implemented by the first computer configured to determine, based on time acquired from the time manager and a request to update firmware from a device, a first validity period of first metadata including identification information of the firmware, and
the second information processing device includes: a metadata generator implemented by a second computer configured to generate the first metadata, the first metadata being separated from the firmware; a counter implemented by the second computer configured to count up a value for each unit of time elapsed based on a clock oscillator; an acquirer implemented by the second computer configured to acquire a first counter value being a value of the counter with respect to the first metadata; a storage configured to store one or more entries each including second metadata, a second validity period, and a second counter value, wherein the second metadata includes identification information of firmware, the second validity period is a validity period of the second metadata, and the second counter value is a value of the counter having been acquired with respect to the second metadata, the second metadata being separated from the firmware; and a determiner implemented by the second computer configured to:
(a) detect, from the one or more entries, an entry including the second metadata including same identification information as the identification information included in the first metadata,
(b) acquire the second validity period and the second counter value from the detected entry, and
(c) detect falsification of the first validity period based on the first counter value and the first validity period and the acquired second counter value and the acquired second validity period.

Assignees

• Toshiba Kk

Inventors

• Koike Ryuiti
• Shinke Yurie
• Takumi Shinya
• Kanai Jun

Classifications

• G06F2221/033

  Test or assess software · CPC title

• G06F2221/2151

  Time stamp · 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

• G06F21/572

  Secure firmware programming, e.g. of basic input output system [BIOS] · CPC title

• G06F21/554 Primary

  involving event detection and direct action · CPC title