Cultivating Security: Debug Authentication for Ensuring the Security of SoC's Root of Trust

Cultivating Security: Debug Authentication for Ensuring the Security of SoC's Root of Trust | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Cultivating Security: Debug Authentication for Ensuring the Security of SoC's Root of Trust Arash Vafaei, Farimah Farahmandi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4559100/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Hardware-assisted debugging provides the necessary infrastructure for developers, testers and many other teams to closely monitor program behaviors at the microarchitectural level in a system-on-chip (SoC). However, debug infrastructure jeopardizes the security of the design by providing a backdoor for accessing crucial assets embedded in the system because of the inevitable increase in observability. While trusted execution environments (TEE) provide an extra level of security and isolate design assets, the security implication of hardware debug integration on TEEs has not been investigated. In this paper, we introduce a multi-level bidirectional access authentication mechanism over the debug module that defines the minimum number of privilege levels needed and the access details at each level so that debug users are authorized and blocked from accessing assets private to other entities. Trust is established by exchanging certificates both from the debugger and SoC sides to implement a bidirectional authorization platform to restrict the debugger's access to SoC assets as well as prevent the debugger's test data from being accessed by an SoC impersonator through emulation. We provide a prototype of the debug authentication platform on RISC-V architecture that proves the small overhead of the approach while staying compatible with traditional RISC-V debug specifications. Our platform ensures SoC's assets' security while providing authorized users with necessary access. Secure Debug Risc-V SoC Security Asset Privilege Level Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4559100","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":319090097,"identity":"e8fca15b-ca18-43a6-a9e1-3ab45c4c9c3e","order_by":0,"name":"Arash Vafaei","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA50lEQVRIie3OsWvCQBTH8Z8IueVB1oNI8i88EUIFg/9Ki5ApBaEQHAWh0/0Bgn9FKbhqeNDpcO4udCo0kKVDBxNwcDrt5nDf4XjD+3AP8PnutH73qCWwrxEP2plvI7QHqjVG9D/Sp1tIuJFjM4ckpKSS7JUJarXVLqIPeRqtIUND+aM8d4Q+SieBRdrek/d2KLglfwRdpE6SWNU0LZma8KeWcfdL8u0mbIkjwuTJ6ALS64gmNxlaKiPiyczoL67MgSmg/OXBRWKr3hta6MyEs2P9W3IcKnn7dJHzeRdzcH3d5/P5fNc6AabbPmdCq+5pAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Florida","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Arash","middleName":"","lastName":"Vafaei","suffix":""},{"id":319090098,"identity":"0985ed89-20af-474e-ab91-87eef5a52199","order_by":1,"name":"Farimah Farahmandi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Florida","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Farimah","middleName":"","lastName":"Farahmandi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-06-10 15:52:44","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4559100/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4559100/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":101881796,"identity":"a3686acb-a107-4592-b379-3c25e127e0ba","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-04 15:16:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":803786,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"qhwgrkgykqbqqmyjxqymbtqcdtgmwdns.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4559100/v1_covered_6680f1cb-bcfd-4953-99e3-e7634ecefa24.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Cultivating Security: Debug Authentication for Ensuring the Security of SoC's Root of Trust","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Secure Debug, Risc-V SoC, Security Asset, Privilege Level","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4559100/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4559100/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Hardware-assisted debugging provides the necessary infrastructure for developers, testers and many other teams to closely monitor program behaviors at the microarchitectural level in a system-on-chip (SoC). 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