esp-idf/examples/security/flash_encryption

Flash Encryption

The example checks if the flash encryption feature is enabled/disabled and if enabled prints the flash encryption mode (DEVELOPMENT / RELEASE) and FLASH_CRYPT_CNT eFuse value

How to use example

Hardware Required

Configure the project

idf.py menuconfig

• Set serial port under Serial Flasher Options.

• Enable the flash encryption mode (Development or Release) under Security Features. Default usage mode is Development (recommended during test and development phase).

• Ensure Bootloader log verbosity is Info under Bootloader config.

• Select Single factory app, no OTA under Partition Table options. Change the partition table offset to 0x9000 from 0x8000 since after enabling flash encryption the size of bootloader is increased.

Build and Flash

When building the project and flashing it to the board FOR THE FIRST TIME after enabling flash encryption feature in menuconfig, run following command to program ESP32 and monitor the output

idf.py -p PORT flash monitor

(To exit the serial monitor, type Ctrl-].)

See the Getting Started Guide for full steps to configure and use ESP-IDF to build projects.

When reprogramming the device subsequently use following command for encrypted write of new plaintext application

idf.py encrypted-app-flash monitor

Please note above command programs only the app partition. In order to reprogram all partitions (bootloader, partition table and application) in encrypted form use

idf.py encrypted-flash monitor

Example Output

When the device boots for the first time after enabling flash encryption in Development mode the output would contain following

I (168) boot: Checking flash encryption...
I (168) flash_encrypt: Generating new flash encryption key...
I (187) flash_encrypt: Read & write protecting new key...
I (187) flash_encrypt: Setting CRYPT_CONFIG efuse to 0xF
W (188) flash_encrypt: Not disabling UART bootloader encryption
I (195) flash_encrypt: Disable UART bootloader decryption...
I (201) flash_encrypt: Disable UART bootloader MMU cache...
I (208) flash_encrypt: Disable JTAG...
I (212) flash_encrypt: Disable ROM BASIC interpreter fallback...
....
....
....
I (13229) flash_encrypt: Flash encryption completed
I (13229) boot: Resetting with flash encryption enabled...

Once the flash encryption is enabled the device will reset itself. At this stage the flash contents are in encrypted form. The output would be similar to

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:2
load:0x3fff0018,len:4
load:0x3fff001c,len:8452
load:0x40078000,len:13652
ho 0 tail 12 room 4
load:0x40080400,len:6664
entry 0x40080764
I (30) boot: ESP-IDF v4.0-dev-850-gc4447462d-dirty 2nd stage bootloader
I (30) boot: compile time 16:32:53
I (31) boot: Enabling RNG early entropy source...
I (37) boot: SPI Speed      : 40MHz
I (41) boot: SPI Mode       : DIO
I (45) boot: SPI Flash Size : 4MB
I (49) boot: Partition Table:
I (52) boot: ## Label            Usage          Type ST Offset   Length
I (60) boot:  0 nvs              WiFi data        01 02 0000a000 00006000
I (67) boot:  1 phy_init         RF data          01 01 00010000 00001000
I (75) boot:  2 factory          factory app      00 00 00020000 00100000
I (82) boot: End of partition table
I (86) esp_image: segment 0: paddr=0x00020020 vaddr=0x3f400020 size=0x0808c ( 32908) map
I (107) esp_image: segment 1: paddr=0x000280b4 vaddr=0x3ffb0000 size=0x01ea4 (  7844) load
I (111) esp_image: segment 2: paddr=0x00029f60 vaddr=0x40080000 size=0x00400 (  1024) load
0x40080000: _WindowOverflow4 at esp-idf/esp-idf/components/freertos/xtensa_vectors.S:1778

I (116) esp_image: segment 3: paddr=0x0002a368 vaddr=0x40080400 size=0x05ca8 ( 23720) load
I (134) esp_image: segment 4: paddr=0x00030018 vaddr=0x400d0018 size=0x126a8 ( 75432) map
0x400d0018: _flash_cache_start at ??:?

I (162) esp_image: segment 5: paddr=0x000426c8 vaddr=0x400860a8 size=0x01f4c (  8012) load
0x400860a8: prvAddNewTaskToReadyList at esp-idf/esp-idf/components/freertos/tasks.c:4561

I (171) boot: Loaded app from partition at offset 0x20000
I (171) boot: Checking flash encryption...
I (171) flash_encrypt: flash encryption is enabled (3 plaintext flashes left)
I (178) boot: Disabling RNG early entropy source...
I (184) cpu_start: Pro cpu up.
I (188) cpu_start: Application information:
I (193) cpu_start: Project name:     flash-encryption
I (198) cpu_start: App version:      v4.0-dev-850-gc4447462d-dirty
I (205) cpu_start: Compile time:     Jun 17 2019 16:32:52
I (211) cpu_start: ELF file SHA256:  8770c886bdf561a7...
I (217) cpu_start: ESP-IDF:          v4.0-dev-850-gc4447462d-dirty
I (224) cpu_start: Starting app cpu, entry point is 0x40080e4c
0x40080e4c: call_start_cpu1 at esp-idf/esp-idf/components/esp32/cpu_start.c:265

I (0) cpu_start: App cpu up.
I (235) heap_init: Initializing. RAM available for dynamic allocation:
I (241) heap_init: At 3FFAE6E0 len 00001920 (6 KiB): DRAM
I (247) heap_init: At 3FFB2EC8 len 0002D138 (180 KiB): DRAM
I (254) heap_init: At 3FFE0440 len 00003AE0 (14 KiB): D/IRAM
I (260) heap_init: At 3FFE4350 len 0001BCB0 (111 KiB): D/IRAM
I (266) heap_init: At 40087FF4 len 0001800C (96 KiB): IRAM
I (273) cpu_start: Pro cpu start user code
I (291) cpu_start: Starting scheduler on PRO CPU.
I (0) cpu_start: Starting scheduler on APP CPU.

  Sample program to check Flash Encryption
  This is ESP32 chip with 2 CPU cores, WiFi/BT/BLE, silicon revision 1, 4MB external flash
  Flash encryption feature is enabled
  Flash encryption mode is DEVELOPMENT
  Flash in encrypted mode with flash_crypt_cnt = 1
  Halting...

Troubleshooting

It is also possible to use esptool.py utility to read the eFuse values and check if flash encryption is enabled or not

python $IDF_PATH/components/esptool_py/esptool/espefuse.py --port /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART summary

If FLASH_CRYPT_CNT eFuse value is non-zero flash encryption is enabled