1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system memory, and more particularly to a system and method for secure information handling system flash memory access.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
As businesses and individuals increasingly rely on information handling systems, secure and economical storage of information presents a continuing challenge. Malicious attacks often seek confidential information stored on information handling systems. In other instances, malicious attacks seek to disable networks so that legitimate users cannot access information. Hackers have grown adept at attacking networks through a variety of techniques at all levels of the network, including client and server information handling systems. Some forms of malicious attacks seek not only to obtain confidential information, but also to maintain a presence on client and/or server information handling systems for continuing attacks. To prevent malicious attacks, use a variety of techniques, such as firewalls and antivirus applications. Hackers often see protective measures meant to prevent malicious attacks as challenges to overcome. The result is a continuing cat-and-mouse game in which network administrators move to prevent foreseeable malicious attacks while hackers seek to exploit the unforeseen.
Server information handling systems typically have access to information stored at a variety of locations that is vulnerable to attack. One example of memory that is vulnerable to attack is flash memory used to manage or control one or more server information handling systems. For example, server information handling systems often include a management processor, such as a baseboard management controller or chassis management controller, which provides “out-of-band” access to the server information, such as remote power control and remotely directed upgrades. The management controller typically includes flash memory that stores instructions for managing the information handling system, such as instructions to perform provisioning. For instance, flash memory of the management controller is divided into a variety of partitions with each partition serving a particular task and having data related to that task. Each partition of the flash memory can be exposed to the operating system of the server information handling system as a writable USB hard disk drive or USB key by the management controller. The management controller faces many of the same security issues of any normal storage device in an operating system environment, such as writes and reads by multiple users, virus or other malicious software or rogue programs that induce multiple write erases. Such threats at a management controller level can lead to data loss or denial of service attacks since data corruption can, for instance, cause provisioning not to function.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a system and method which provides secure information handling system flash memory access.
In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are provided which substantially reduce the disadvantages and problems associated with previous methods and systems for securing information handling system flash memory. Flash memory updates, such as updates to provisioning information stored on a USB storage device, are managed with a post operating system application running on a CPU and a management processor. Commands to perform a firmware update are communicated through a management bus, such as an IPMI bus, with the performance of update tasks done through a system bus.
More specifically, an information handling system built from a variety of hardware components operating in a hardware layer processes information with firmware in a firmware layer, an operating system in an operating system layer and applications running over the operating system layer. A post operating system application running in the application layer, such as a firmware updater, prepares updates to apply to flash memory, such as a USB storage device partitioned to store firmware, such as provisioning information. The post operating system application stores the update in a configuration file in a buffer, such as RAM accessible by a management processor. The configuration file includes a security code generated from information stored in the configuration file, such as the firmware update. The post-operating system application sends a message to the management processor through a management bus, such as an IPMI bus, to initiate the update. The management processor analyzes the configuration file to validate the update, such as by independently generating the security code, and commands the update to the flash memory if the update is validated. The update is copied from the buffer to the flash memory through a system bus after the update is validated by the management processor.
The present invention provides a number of important technical advantages. One example of an important technical advantage is that information handling system flash memory access remains secure, such as during updates to information stored on the flash memory. The flash memory device is isolated from operating system applications so that malicious attacks through operating system applications are prevented from damaging the flash memory device or functions supported by the flash memory device, such as provisioning. Centralized access to the flash memory device is controlled by a management processor for improved security that still allows flexible utilization of the flash memory device. A robust and trustable manner for transferring data from operating system level applications is provided, such as for performing updates to the flash memory and functions supported by the flash memory.
The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element.
Secure writes to a storage device of an information handling system are performed with cooperation of a management processor and CPU of the information handling system. For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components.
Referring now to
Information stored in USB flash memory 26 is protected by allowing changes made by post-operating system applications running in application layer 38 only with the cooperation of management processor 12. USB flash memory 26 appears to application layer 38 as a USB solid-state storage device, such as a USB key, accessible by a USB bus 44. An application, such as firmware updater 46, running at application layer 38 updates information on USB flash memory 26 by preparing an update configuration file and placing the update configuration file in a predefined buffer, such as a defined memory location in RAM 20 are hard disk drive 18. USB flash memory 26 is not exposed directly as a writeable device to firmware updater 46 and thus is not exposed to malicious programs or hackers running through application layer 38. Instead, once firmware updater 46 writes a configuration file to a buffer, a request is sent by firmware updater 46 to management processor 12 through IPMI bus 40 to notify a firmware manager 48 running as firmware on management processor 12 to perform the update defined by the configuration file.
An example of configuration files 50 to update USB flash memory 26 is depicted by
Referring now to
At step 78, the post-operating system application formats the dynamic partition of RAM made available by the management processor. At step 80, the post operating system application builds an update configuration file for the update task or tasks, such as the configuration files depicted by
At step 100, with the status of the update no longer pending, a determination is made of whether the flash memory copy was a success. If not a success, the process continues to step 122 for the post operating system application to send an IPMI command to disconnect the buffer RAM and to step 120 to issue an error message. If the flash memory update was successful, the process continues to step 102 to determine if additional updates are needed. If additional updates are needed, the process returns to step 104 for the post operating system application to send an IPMI command to make the RAM buffer writeable. If the updates are complete, the process continues to step 106 for the post operating system application to send an IPMI command to disconnect the RAM buffer. At step 108, the management processor cleans the dynamic RAM buffer partition and frees the RAM for other uses. At step 110, the post operating system application sends an IPMI command to attach the flash memory partition as read only. At step 112, the post operating system application verifies that the update was correctly applied to the flash memory. At step 114, a determination is made of whether the configuration file update was properly performed to the flash memory. If the update was successful, the flash memory update is complete at step 116 and the process ends at step 118. If the update to the flash memory was not a success, the post operating system application issues an error at step 120 to handle the error and then the process ends at step 118.
Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/198,236, filed Aug. 26, 2008, entitled “System and Method for Secure Information Handling System Flash Memory Access,” now U.S. Pat. No. 9,069,965, issued Jun. 30, 2015, which includes exemplary systems and methods and is incorporated by reference in its entirety.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 12198236 | Aug 2008 | US |
Child | 14739519 | US |