Programmer’s Guide

Before initiating any of the following key generation operations, it is recommended (but not mandatory) to check that keymgr_dpe is ready to handle them. Except for the first advance call that initializes keymgr_dpe, this means keymgr_dpe is idle (as reported in OP_STATUS) and FSM is in Available state (reported in WORKING_STATE).

Similarly, at the end of the operation (when OP_STATUS is not WIP anymore), it is recommended to check that the operation was successful by reading ERR_CODE. SW can also read the reported FSM state through WORKING_STATE to confirm that keymgr_dpe reaches the expected state.

Initialize (first advance call)

From a SW perspective, there is not an explicit initialize command. Initialization is simply the first advance call. The first advance call only latches the OTP creator root key, therefore most registers used in the regular advance call are ignored during initialization.

Keymgr_DPE is initialized by configuring the following CSR:

Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.OPERATION to Advance.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.SLOT_DST_SEL to the destination slot to which UDS should be latched.
Set START to initiate the operation.

At the end of the successful first advance call, the UDS is latched into the specified destination slot.

Advance

This section specifically addresses the advance calls after initialization (i.e. when WORKING_STATE is reported as Available). The advance operation is executed by configuring the following CSR:

Set SW_BINDING.
Set SW_BINDING_REGWEN to zero, if modifications on SW_BINDING needs to be prevented until the next advance call.
Set MAX_KEY_VER_SHADOWED.
Set MAX_KEY_VER_REGWEN to zero, if modifications on MAX_KEY_VER_SHADOWED needs to be prevented until the next advance call.
Set SLOT_POLICY to control policy fields of the generated child slot.
Set SLOT_POLICY_REGWEN to zero, if modifications on SLOT_POLICY needs to be prevented until the next advance call.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.OPERATION to Advance.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.SLOT_SRC_SEL to the source slot which acts as the parent in the DICE key hierarchy.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.SLOT_DST_SEL to the destination slot that should store the child key in the DICE hierarchy. The destination must be same as SLOT_SRC_SEL, if retain_parent = false. Otherwise, it must be different.
Set START to initiate the operation.

Further advance calls use the keys stored in the specified SLOT_SRC_SEL slot (whose context is simply referred to as parent), and the result of the derivation updates the slot specified by SLOT_DST_SEL (referred to as child).

At the end of a successful operation, the slot selected by SLOT_DST_SEL is loaded in with the following values:

valid bit is set to 1.
Its key_policy is updated with SLOT_POLICY.
max_key_version is updated with MAX_KEY_VERSION.
boot_stage is set to the parent’s boot_stage + 1
key is updated from the digest received from KMAC (after truncating to 256-bit).

The slot SLOT_SRC_SEL remains unmodified (unless SLOT_SRC_SEL = SLOT_DST_SEL required by retain_parent = false).

A non-successful operation does not update any of the slots.

The software is able to read the current state of key manager, however it never has access to the associated internal key.

Versioned Key Generation

SW needs to configure the following registers:

Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.DST_SEL for either of of the use cases {AES, KMAC, OTBN}.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.OPERATION to either of {Generate SW Operation, Generate HW Operation}.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.SLOT_SRC_SEL to select the source slot whose secret will be used to generate the key.
Set SALT and KEY_VERSION registers.
Trigger the operation by setting START.

If SW key is requested, then it becomes available at SW_SHARE0_OUTPUT, SW_SHARE1_OUTPUT registers in two shares. If HW key is requested then it becomes available in the configured sideload port. The key on the slot remains valid unless:

It is explicitly cleared by SW.
The same sideload slot or CSR is overwritten by another key generation operation.
The keymgr_dpe moves to Invalid state.

Erase Slot

SW needs to configure the following registers to erase a slot:

Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.OPERATION to Erase Slot.
Set CONTROL_SHADOWED.SLOT_DST_SEL to select the slot to be erased.
Set START to initiate the operation.

At the end of a successful erase operation, the secret of the destination slot is removed and the slot is marked as invalid.

Disable

SW needs to configure the following registers to disable keymgr_dpe: