This article simplifies the problem and commits factual errors.
TPM is not HSM, not enclave, and it does not allow running arbitrary computation. TPM is a specification of a secure element, that provides some cryptographic primitives, secure storage, signing mechanism (endorsement key), and a few more. Since it is available since very early boot stage it is used for storing and signing integrity measurements.
HSM or TPM never release the signing key as authors writes. DICE does not release the initial seed used to derive the inital hash/key.
DICE addresses different market. It was designed by the same organization that designed TPM but addresses IoT devices. Microsoft extended the spec so that one gets chain of signed measurements instead of an aggregated hash as an attestation proof (at a high level).
DICE gets more popular in TEE designs because one does not have to rely on an external chip vulnerable to physical attacks. However, it is the same set of features needed for DICE and TPM to enable attestation. TPM offers additional features, like mono tonic counters, secure storage, sealing, etc, that can be used for other use cases.
Finally, TPM became a standard and has been implemented as part of complex processor’s firmware (Intel PTT), discrete TPM (what the author of the article is familiar with), software TPMs enabling attestation for VMs and recently used also for confidential computing VMs (check Intel TDX). Linux kernel supports runtime integrity measurements with IMA security subsystem that relies on TPM protocol for attestation.
Your nitpicks and misinterpretations are not my factual errors.
> TPM is not HSM
Most TPMs we care about are their own piece of silicon. The software and firmware ones aren't real HSMs, but come on, we all know those are shortcuts to the real thing.
> TPM is […] not enclave
Never mentioned "enclave" in my article.
> TPM […] does not allow running arbitrary computation.
Hey, I said as much, that's the whole point of my article.
> TPM is a specification […]
Oh please. Can't I use the same word to refer to the TCG specs and actual instantiations in hardware or software?
> HSM or TPM never release the signing key as authors writes.
I never wrote that.
> DICE does not release the initial seed used to derive the inital hash/key.
Which is why I never said it did.
> DICE addresses different market. […]
Yes, I'm aware. I also noticed how the TCG manages to promote DICE without noticing it makes their baby TPM 2.0 obsolete. I'm guessing this is motivated cognition. In any case, I think the TCG should start working on a DICE-capable TPM 3.0 right away, and spare us the now needless complexity of TPM 2.0.
> I also noticed how the TCG manages to promote DICE without noticing it makes their baby TPM 2.0 obsolete.
Alas, TCG seems to have recognized the mistake, so they have recently proposed for the DICE to rely on a separate entity (the DPE) to handle all secrets and cryptographic operations:
"Examples of environments that could be used for a DPE implementation are a secure coprocessor, discrete secure hardware, a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), a type-1 hypervisor, operating system kernel, or another type of environment isolated with a
hardware-backed mode switch."
The DPE re-introduces a whole class of problems (i.e. authentication and secure communications) that the DICE was meant to simplify away in the first place.
From what I got, the OP was not claiming that a TPM is simply a HSM (despite the first sentence making it seem that way).
What they claimed was:
- You only need to provide a HSM, a general-purpose microcontroller and a specific, very simple trusted bootloader.
- Then clients can supply the rest of the TPM implementation themselves as untrusted code to the bootloader.
- The resulting system has the same security properties as a TPM implemented in firmware.
- It would lead to simpler implementations and a lot less complexity in general, as clients only have to implement the parts of the TPM spec they need an not the entire thing.
I'm not enough of a crypto guy to be able to judge whether OP is right - but I think you'd need some more substantial cryptographic arguments to disprove the claim.
(In particular, I wonder how easy it would be to cause a collision - i.e. pass a program to the bootloader that results in the same hash and CDI as the program that you want to attack and still lets you do something useful, such as leaking information about the CDI to the host)
TPM is not HSM, not enclave, and it does not allow running arbitrary computation. TPM is a specification of a secure element, that provides some cryptographic primitives, secure storage, signing mechanism (endorsement key), and a few more. Since it is available since very early boot stage it is used for storing and signing integrity measurements.
HSM or TPM never release the signing key as authors writes. DICE does not release the initial seed used to derive the inital hash/key.
DICE addresses different market. It was designed by the same organization that designed TPM but addresses IoT devices. Microsoft extended the spec so that one gets chain of signed measurements instead of an aggregated hash as an attestation proof (at a high level).
DICE gets more popular in TEE designs because one does not have to rely on an external chip vulnerable to physical attacks. However, it is the same set of features needed for DICE and TPM to enable attestation. TPM offers additional features, like mono tonic counters, secure storage, sealing, etc, that can be used for other use cases.
Finally, TPM became a standard and has been implemented as part of complex processor’s firmware (Intel PTT), discrete TPM (what the author of the article is familiar with), software TPMs enabling attestation for VMs and recently used also for confidential computing VMs (check Intel TDX). Linux kernel supports runtime integrity measurements with IMA security subsystem that relies on TPM protocol for attestation.