Cryptographic core design security verification and vulnerability detection based on information flow analysis

基于信息流分析的密码核设计安全验证与漏洞检测

School of Cyberspace Security, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China

Received: 25 May 2021

Abstract

Cryptographic cores are the key components to enforce information security properties related to confidentiality and integrity. Since the security of a cryptographic core implementation and the security of the cryptographic algorithm itself from the mathematical perspective are two different problems, cryptographic cores may contain hidden security vulnerabilities such as design flaws and side channels. Security analysis methods based on functional verification rely heavily on the quality of test vectors and usually have low test coverage, which is difficult to meet the security verification requirements of security-critical components like cryptographic cores. This work proposes a cryptographic core security verification and vulnerability detection method from the perspective of information flow security. The proposed method can accurately measure all logical information flows in cryptographic core designs to formally verify security properties such as confidentiality and integrity. It can detect potential security vulnerabilities in cryptographic implementations by capturing harmful information flows. Experimental results show that our information flow security verification method is effective in detecting sensitive information leakage caused by the design vulnerabilities and side channels in cryptographic cores.

摘要

密码算法核是保障信息机密性和完整性的关键部件。由于密码算法实现的安全性与算法在数学上的安全性是2个完全不同的问题, 密码算法核可能隐含设计缺陷和旁路信道等安全隐患。基于功能验证的安全性分析方法严重依赖于测试向量的质量, 覆盖率低, 难以满足密码算法核这一安全关键部件的安全验证需求。从信息流安全的角度研究密码算法核安全验证与漏洞检测方法。该方法能够对密码算法核中全部逻辑信息流进行精确度量, 实现对机密性和完整性等安全属性的形式化验证, 可通过捕捉有害信息流动来检测密码算法核设计中潜在的安全隐患。实验结果表明信息流安全验证方法对密码算法核中的设计缺陷和旁路信道导致的敏感信息泄漏有很好的检测效果。