2.16.x, which is our latest LTS branch, currently at 2.16.7. As an LTS branch, it only receives bug fixes and security updates, so it's pretty stable. In particular, since it doesn't receive any new feature, its footprint (code size) should remain mostly stable as well.
2.x.y, released from the development branch, currently at 2.23.0. This is the branch where new features land.

Both of these have full API compatibility with 2.13.1. We take great care not to break API compatibility between major releases - we haven't broken it since Mbed TLS 2.0.0 (release 2015-07-13), and the next release to break API compatibility with be 3.0.0 (now planned for early 2021). Until then, upgrading should be a simple matter of replacing the mbedtls directory in your source tree with the version of your choice, then rebuilding your project. (Moreover in the LTS branches we actually try maintain ABI compatibility as far as possible - that is, unless there's a security issue that can only be fixed by changing the ABI.)

Mbed TLS is designed bo be quite modular an integrate with the OS and networking stack via user-provided hooks and compile-time configuration (`include/mbedtls/config.h`). I'm not sure how the integration with LwIP and FreeRTOS was done by your MCU vendor, but I suggest you check:

is the mbedtls directory in your source tree identical to our upstream release? If yes, you should be able to just replace it with the release of your choice and things should work.
otherwise, what's the nature of the differences: are filed shuffled to a different directory structure? is the build system different? has the `mbedtls/config.h` file been modified? have other files been modified (which ideally really shouldn't be necessary)? In that case, you'll probably need to apply the same changes to the upgraded version of Mbed TLS. Hopefully the differences if any will be small, and otherwise perhaps you MCU vendor can provide documentation about it.

So I can't really say for this specific integration, but in principle upgrading Mbed TLS should be really painless - precisely so that people can upgrade easily in case of security fixes.

Hope this helps, and let us know how it went!

Regards,

Manuel.

Given the age of the version of mbedTLS I’m using, which is 2.13.1, plus the recent security alert, I think I need to upgrade the version of mbedTLS we have. The question is, which version to use?

Because we got mbedTLS as example code from the MCU vendor, it was already integrated with lwIP and FreeRTOS. I’m sure this will not be a trivial effort, but I do need to present my management with some idea of the time it could take. Does anyone have a rough estimate of what to expect? I’m thinking on the order of 2 to 4 weeks for someone who is an experienced C programmer, but unfamiliar with either mbedTLS or lwIP. Or is that a pipe dream, with the actual time being closer to 3 or 4 months?

Jeff Thompson | Senior Electrical Engineer-Firmware
+1 704 752 6513 x1394
www.invue.com