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https://github.com/freertos/corepkcs11

Software implementation of the PKCS #11 standard.
https://github.com/freertos/corepkcs11

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Software implementation of the PKCS #11 standard.

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README 

        
# corePKCS11 Library



**[API Documentation Pages for current and previous releases of this library can be found here](https://freertos.github.io/corePKCS11/)**



[PKCS #11](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PKCS_11) is a standardized and widely

used API for manipulating common cryptographic objects. It is important because

the functions it specifies allow application software to use, create, modify,

and delete cryptographic objects, without ever exposing those objects to the

application’s memory. For example, FreeRTOS AWS reference integrations use a

small subset of the PKCS #11 API to, among other things, access the secret

(private) key necessary to create a network connection that is authenticated and

secured by the

[Transport Layer Security (TLS)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security)

protocol – without the application ever ‘seeing’ the key.



The Cryptoki or PKCS #11 standard defines a platform-independent API to manage

and use cryptographic tokens. The name, "PKCS #11", is used interchangeably to

refer to the API itself and the standard which defines it.



This repository contains a software based mock implementation of the PKCS #11

interface (API) that uses the cryptographic functionality provided by Mbed TLS.

Using a software mock enables rapid development and flexibility, but it is

expected that the mock be replaced by an implementation specific to your chosen

secure key storage in production devices.



Only a subset of the PKCS #11 standard is implemented, with a focus on

operations involving asymmetric keys, random number generation, and hashing.



The targeted use cases include certificate and key management for TLS

authentication and code-sign signature verification, on small embedded devices.



corePKCS11 is implemented on PKCS #11 v2.4.0, the full PKCS #11 standard can be

found on the

[oasis website](http://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-base/v2.40/os/pkcs11-base-v2.40-os.html).



This library has gone through code quality checks including verification that no

function has a

[GNU Complexity](https://www.gnu.org/software/complexity/manual/complexity.html)

score over 8, and checks against deviations from mandatory rules in the

[MISRA coding standard](https://www.misra.org.uk). Deviations from the MISRA

C:2012 guidelines are documented under [MISRA Deviations](MISRA.md). This

library has also undergone both static code analysis from

[Coverity static analysis](https://scan.coverity.com/) and validation of memory

safety through the

[CBMC automated reasoning tool](https://www.cprover.org/cbmc/).



See memory requirements for this library

[here](./docs/doxygen/include/size_table.md).



**corePKCS11 v3.6.2

[source code](https://github.com/FreeRTOS/corePKCS11/tree/v3.6.2/source) is part

of the

[FreeRTOS 202406.00 LTS](https://github.com/FreeRTOS/FreeRTOS-LTS/tree/202406.00-LTS)

release.**



# Purpose



Generally vendors for secure cryptoprocessors such as Trusted Platform Module

([TPM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Platform_Module)), Hardware

Security Module ([HSM](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_security_module)),

Secure Element, or any other type of secure hardware enclave, distribute a PKCS

#11 implementation with the hardware. The purpose of the corePKCS11 software

only mock library is therefore to provide a non hardware specific PKCS #11

implementation that allows for rapid prototyping and development before

switching to a cryptoprocessor specific PKCS #11 implementation in production

devices.



Since the PKCS #11 interface is defined as part of the PKCS #11

[specification](https://docs.oasis-open.org/pkcs11/pkcs11-base/v2.40/os/pkcs11-base-v2.40-os.html)

replacing this library with another implementation should require little porting

effort, as the interface will not change. The system tests distributed in this

repository can be leveraged to verify the behavior of a different implementation

is similar to corePKCS11.



## corePKCS11 Configuration



The corePKCS11 library exposes preprocessor macros which must be defined prior

to building the library. A list of all the configurations and their default

values are defined in the doxygen documentation for this library.



## Build Prerequisites



### Library Usage



For building the library the following are required:



- **A C99 compiler**

- **mbedcrypto** library from [mbedtls](https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls)

  version 2.x or 3.x.

- **pkcs11 API header(s)** available from

  [OASIS](https://github.com/oasis-tcs/pkcs11) or

  [OpenSC](https://github.com/OpenSC/libp11/blob/master/src/pkcs11.h)



Optionally, variables from the pkcsFilePaths.cmake file may be referenced if

your project uses cmake.



### Integration and Unit Tests



In order to run the integration and unit test suites the following are

dependencies are necessary:



- **C Compiler**

- **CMake 3.13.0 or later**

- **Ruby 2.0.0 or later** required by CMock.

- **Python 3** required for configuring mbedtls.

- **git** required for fetching dependencies.

- **GNU Make** or **Ninja**



The _mbedtls_, _CMock_, and _Unity_ libraries are downloaded and built

automatically using the cmake FetchContent feature.



### Coverage Measurement and Instrumentation



The following software is required to run the coverage target:



- Linux, MacOS, or another POSIX-like environment.

- A recent version of **GCC** or **Clang** with support for gcov-like coverage

  instrumentation.

- **gcov** binary corresponding to your chosen compiler

- **lcov** from the

  [Linux Test Project](https://github.com/linux-test-project/lcov)

- **perl** needed to run the lcov utility.



Coverage builds are validated on recent versions of Ubuntu Linux.



### Running the Integration and Unit Tests



1. Navigate to the root directory of this repository in your shell.



1. Run **cmake** to construct a build tree: `cmake -S test -B build`



   - You may specify your preferred build tool by appending `-G'Unix Makefiles'`

     or `-GNinja` to the command above.

   - You may append `-DUNITTEST=0` or `-DSYSTEM_TESTS=0` to disable Unit Tests

     or Integration Tests respectively.



1. Build the test binaries: `cmake --build ./build --target all`



1. Run `ctest --test-dir ./build` or `cmake --build ./build --target test` to

   run the tests without capturing coverage.



1. Run `cmake --build ./build --target coverage` to run the tests and capture

   coverage data.



## CBMC



To learn more about CBMC and proofs specifically, review the training material

[here](https://model-checking.github.io/cbmc-training).



The `test/cbmc/proofs` directory contains CBMC proofs.



In order to run these proofs you will need to install CBMC and other tools by

following the instructions

[here](https://model-checking.github.io/cbmc-training/installation.html).



## Reference examples



The FreeRTOS-Labs repository contains demos using the PKCS #11 library

[here](https://github.com/FreeRTOS/FreeRTOS-Labs/tree/master/FreeRTOS-Plus/Demo/FreeRTOS_Plus_PKCS11_Windows_Simulator/examples)

using FreeRTOS on the Windows simulator platform. These can be used as reference

examples for the library API.



## Porting Guide



Documentation for porting corePKCS11 to a new platform can be found on the AWS

[docs](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/freertos/latest/portingguide/afr-porting-pkcs.html)

web page.



corePKCS11 is not meant to be ported to projects that have a TPM, HSM, or other

hardware for offloading crypto-processing. This library is specifically meant to

be used for development and prototyping.



## Related Example Implementations



These projects implement the PKCS #11 interface on real hardware and have

similar behavior to corePKCS11. It is preferred to use these, over corePKCS11,

as they allow for offloading Cryptography to separate hardware.



- ARM's

  [Platform Security Architecture](https://github.com/Linaro/freertos-pkcs11-psa).

- Microchip's [cryptoauthlib](https://github.com/MicrochipTech/cryptoauthlib).

- Infineon's

  [Optiga Trust X](https://github.com/aws/amazon-freertos/blob/main/vendors/infineon/secure_elements/pkcs11/iot_pkcs11_trustx.c).



## Documentation



### Existing Documentation



For pre-generated documentation, please see the documentation linked in the

locations below:



|                                                       Location                                                       |

| :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: |

| [AWS IoT Device SDK for Embedded C](https://github.com/aws/aws-iot-device-sdk-embedded-C#releases-and-documentation) |

|      [FreeRTOS.org](https://freertos.github.io/corePKCS11/v3.6.1/)                                                   |



Note that the latest included version of corePKCS11 may differ across

repositories.



### Generating Documentation



The Doxygen references were created using Doxygen version 1.9.6. To generate the

Doxygen pages, please run the following command from the root of this

repository:



```shell

doxygen docs/doxygen/config.doxyfile

```



## Security



See [CONTRIBUTING](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md#security-issue-notifications) for more

information.



## License



This library is licensed under the MIT-0 License. See the LICENSE file.