Hello,

Arm is seeking early feedback on a proposed interface for cryptographic drivers that can be plugged into an implementation of the PSA Cryptography API. A copy of the current specification is attached. You can find the current draft of the specification of this interface at https://github.com/gilles-peskine-arm/mbedtls/blob/psa-unified-driver-protot...

Please note that this is work in progress. The document is not complete yet. At this stage, it is intended to offer a general overview of the design, not as an implementable specification. Our intention is to continue refining this design, however we may change it based on the feedback that we will receive and there is even a small chance that we will abandon it.

The primary intent of this specification is to allow manufacturers of cryptographic hardware to distribute drivers that can be added to a pure-software, portable implementation of the PSA Cryptography API such as Mbed TLS. The interface was designed to support three types of hardware: * Cryptographic accelerators that operate on a key which is provided in cleartext at the beginning of the operation. This type of driver can also be used to plug in software engines. * Protected environments that operate on a wrapped key which is stored outside the protected environment. * Protected environments that have internal key storage and operate on keys designated by an identifier.

Concretely, a driver manufacturer would distribute: * A JSON file specifying the driver's capabilities. * C headers declaring the types and functions provided by the driver. * The implementation of the functions provided by the driver, either in the form of C source code or in the form of compiled code.

Then when an application uses a key: * If the key is in the memory or local storage of the PSA crypto subsystem and a driver is available for the requested cryptographic mechanism, the core (e.g. Mbed TLS) dispatches the cryptographic operation to the driver. * If the key is in local storage and no driver is available, the core performs the cryptographic operation itself. * If the key is in some other location (as specified by its lifetime), the core invokes the protected environment driver corresponding to that location.

This proposal supersedes the previous drafts “PSA cryptographic accelerator interface” (psa_crypto_accel.h) and “PSA secure element driver interface” (crypto_se_driver.h).

We intend to implement this specification in Mbed TLS in such a way that a platform distributor can combine drivers and distribute C source code, object files or a mixture of the two in their system development kit. In the long term, the accelerator interface defined here will replace the current MBEDTLS_xxx_ALT mechanism.

Comments are welcome through the following venues: * Public email to the psa-crypto or mbed-tls mailing list at TrustedFirmware. * Public comments on GitHub on the pull request https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbedtls/pull/3313 . * Private email to mbed-crypto@arm.com. These emails will only be shared inside Arm. We may use your feedback to influence the design of PSA Crypto, but your identity and the specifics will be kept confidential.

We do not have a specific deadline for feedback, however we intend to start implementing this interface in Mbed TLS in June 2020, so feedback received later will have a reduced chance of influencing the design if it would entail major changes.

Best regards,