SPRT789B April   2025  – October 2026

 

  1.   1
  2.   Software Product Overview
  3.   Device Lifecycle and Provisioning Flow
  4.   TI's F29x OTP Key Writer Package
  5.   TI Foundational Software for MCU Devices
  6.   List of Valid Devices

TI Foundational Software for MCU Devices

What is TIFS-MCU ?

TIFS stands for Texas Instruments Foundational Security for F29x SoCs. TIFS provides device root of trust and foundational security services. The HSM or hardware security module consists of a secure core based secure subsystem. TIFS-MCU serves as an add-on package on top of F29-SDK offering for F29x devices like F29H85x and F29P32x. TIFS-MCU enables a bare metal security stack on secure CPU that can be leveraged by the user too.

  1. Develop device root of trust and provide foundational security services
  2. Integrate with 3P Auto-HSM stacks TIFS-MCU is not a replacement for AUTOSAR-HSM stack.

TIFS-MCU enables foundational security SW with all the building blocks required for root-of-trust within the device and utilizes various services. TIFS-MCU can be easily integrated by AUTOSAR-HSM stack vendors to develop HSM stacks that adhere to SHE/EVITA standards.

What is Code Provisioning Firmware in TIFS-MCU ?

Code Provisioning firmware is TI delivered software (including source) which enables secure provisioning of software into the internal flash of the device. This allows users to program HSM as well as C29 applications securely even in non-secure environment.

Table 1 List of Features Supported by Code Provisioning Flow
Features of Code Provisioning Flow Image Integrity Bank Mode
HSM Run Time Firmware Provisioning
  • RSA-4K with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp256R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp384R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp521R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA brainpool512R1 with SHA512
 All Bank Modes
C29 CPU1 Provisioning
  • RSA-4K with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp256R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp384R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp521R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA brainpool512R1 with SHA512
 All Bank Modes
Secure Config Provisioning
  • RSA-4K with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp256R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp384R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA secp521R1 with SHA512
  • ECDSA brainpool512R1 with SHA512
 All Bank Modes
Table 2 List of Software Deliverables for Secure Code Provisioning Flow
List of Software Components Software Type OPN Delivery Location Source Available in 26.01.00 LTS
UART Flash Kernel Example F29H85x-SDK ti.com Yes
JTAG Flash Kernel Example F29H85x-SDK ti.com Yes
CAN Flash Kernel Example F29H85x-SDK ti.com Yes
Host Programmer Tool for:
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • MacOS
 F29H85x-SDK ti.com Yes
OTP Key Writer Certificate Generation Python tool F29H85x-TIFS-SDK Secure Resources Yes
HSM KP firmware Encrypted Firmware F29H85x-TIFS-SDK Secure Resources No
HSM CP firmware Example F29H85x-TIFS-SDK Secure Resources Yes
Cyber Shield Toolkit Python tool Cyber Shield Toolkit GitHub Yes

What is available in the TIFS-MCU SDK ?

TIFS-MCU SDK offers out-of-box services and example HSM firmware showcasing use cases which execute in HSM subsystem.

Native Services Provided by TIFS-MCU Figure 3 Native Services Provided by TIFS-MCU
Software Architecture Block Diagram of TIFS-MCU Figure 4 Software Architecture Block Diagram of TIFS-MCU
Table 3 TIFS-MCU Software Components
TIFS-MCU Software Components Description
OS Kernel
No RTOS Contains modules which implement no-RTOS execution environment consisting of timers, ISR, main thread. Allows software on top to run in bare metal mode. Note - HSM Server is only supported in NORTOS.
Driver Porting Layer (DPL) APIs used by drivers to abstract the OS environment. Example, Semaphore, HW interrupts, mutex, clock.
Security Device Drivers and Modules
TIFS-MCU Peripheral Drivers

Device Drivers library and APIs for HSM.

List of SOC Peripheral Driver:

  • HSM MBOX and Secure IPC
  • Crypto Drivers
  • HSM Flash, HSM FRI
  • Security Manager
  • MPU Firewall
  • USURP
  • Memory Validation Module
  • HSM RTI
  • HSM Watchdog
TIFS-MCU Middle-ware

TIFS-MCU middle-ware that are supported in TIFS-MCU package

List of Middle-ware:

  • HSM Server
  • HSM Memory Log
  • ASN1 Parser and Certificate Parser
  • Key Derivation
  • Crypto Interface
TIFS-MCU Services

HSM Services that are supported in TIFS-MCU package

List of HSM Services:

  • HSM Get Version Service
  • HSM Get UID Service
  • HSM Run Time Debug Authentication Service
  • HSM Derived KEK Service
  • HSM Random Number Generate Service
  • HSM Extended OTP Services
  • HSM Anti Rollback Services
  • HSM Root of Trust Switching Services
  • HSM Secure Firmware Update Services
  • HSM Get Device Config Service
  • HSM Crypto Services
  • HSM Proc Auth Boot Service
  • HSM Active to Dormant Flash Bank Copy Service
  • HSM Run Time Bank Swap Service
  • HSM Keyring Import Service
  • HSM HS-FA Transition Service
TIFS-MCU Firmware Out of Box Example implementation of TIFS-MCU firmware with all the mentioned services enabled
Examples and Demos
Examples and Demos List of HSM Examples:
  • Combined Services Demo showcasing all the HSM services
  • Boot Manager demonstrating Secure Firmware Update in Flash Boot Mode
  • Encryption/Decryption Cryptographic Examples
  • Hashing Cryptographic Examples
  • Asymmetric Cryptographic Examples
  • CPU3 Secure Boot Example
  • Secure Live Firmware Update Example
  • HS-FA Transition Example
Tools (used on host machine)
Code Composer Studio (CCS) IDE used to build projects, debug programs
TI CLANG Compiler Toolchain CLANG based ARM compiler from TI for ARM M4F
TI C29-CGT Toolchain CLANG based C29 compiler from TI for C29 CPU
SysConfig System configuration tool, used to configure peripherals, pinmux, clocks and generate system initialization code
SDK Tools and Utilities Additional tools and utilities, like flashing tools, booting tools, CCS loading scripts used with the SDK development flow
OTP Keywriter OTP Keywriter is used to fuse customer keys into the device and convert HS-FS to HS-KP to establish customer root-of-trust.
TIFS-MCU tools Tools and scripts to leverage the services provided via TIFS-MCU.
Table 4 HSM Services Supported
Services Description Examples Available
HSM Get Version Service HSM GetVersion service is to get the current TIFS-MCU Firmware version Yes
HSM Get UID Service When TIFS-MCU Firmware receives a request to GetUID from HSM Server, the UID is copied from secure memory to the output memory location requested by the user. Yes
HSM Run Time Debug Authentication Service To unlock the debug port during the run-time, you need an X509 certificate signed with active Root of Trust private keys. This service is used to provide the signed certificate to TIFS-MCU Firmware for processing. Yes
HSM Derived KEK Service TIFS-MCU provides this service to get a derived KEK based on some input constants.
  • This key is unique for every unit device and is kept secret.
  • This key cannot be fetched from hardware in any manner.
 Yes
HSM Random Number Generate Service TIFS-MCU provides this service to get a random number from the given input constants.

Yes
HSM Extended OTP Service TIFS-MCU provides services to program General Purpose OTP regions which are an array of otp flash bits that can be defined for user usage models. Yes
HSM Anti Rollback Service TIFS-MCU provides anti-rollback services that help prevent booting older software images. The device has OTP fields to hold software revision for SBL, HSMRt, SECCFG and Application Images. Yes
HSM Root of Trust Switch Service

TIFS-MCU provides Secure RoT Switching to switch to backup keys from the secondary keys.

There are two Root of Trust Keys that are present in the SoC: Secondary (SMPK/SMEK) and Backup (BMPK/BMEK). If the secondary key is compromised, the attacker can take the control of the entire SoC.

 Yes
HSM Firmware Update Service TIFS-MCU provides secure firmware update service which consists of certificate authentication flow, verification against the root of trust keys and maintain the image integrity of the image throughout the flow. Yes
HSM Get Device Config Service

TIFS-MCU provides get device config service to read device configurations populated by HSM-ROM in Assets (Secure RAM) during boot and also additional hardware configurations which are restricted to HSM CPU.

 Yes
HSM Crypto Services

TIFS-MCU provides crypto services allowing secure cryptographic Message Authentication Code (MAC) Generation and Verification for authenticated data integrity. CMAC, HMAC and GMAC are supported.

 Yes
HSM Proc Auth Boot Service TIFS-MCU provides authentication service for application binary as well as Sec-Cfg images using customer root-of-trust keys available in keyring. Yes
HSM Active to Dormant Flash Bank Copy Service TIFS-MCU provides a service for copying active flash bank contents to dormant flash bank which can be used to copy contents of MAIN flash region from active flash bank to dormant flash bank for C29 CPU1, C29 CPU3 an HSM CPU Yes
HSM Run Time Bank Swap Service TIFS-MCU provides a service for swapping C29 flash banks at run time without restarting the device which can be used for Secure Live firmware Updates and as a fallback mechanism to revert older firmware versions in case of flash corruption Yes
HSM Keyring Import Service TIFS-MCU provides a service for the storage of asymmetric and symmetric keys, allowing an extension of the root of trust. The service imports public keys, private keys, symmetric keys and custom data which are a part of x509 certificate signed by the active root of trust. Yes
HSM HS-FA Transition Service TIFS-MCU provides a service which allows permanent transitioning of a device from HS-SE (Security Enforced) state to HS-FA (Failure Analysis) state. This transition is irreversible and permanently sets the Failure Analysis Enable bit in the device OTP. Yes
Table 5 Crypto HW Accelerators and Modes Supported
Crypto Core Support Available in SW Driver Examples Available Specification
AES Encryption and Decryption
  • 128,192 and 256 bits Keys
  • ECB, CBC, CCM, CTR, CFB, GCM, OFB, XTS
  • One-Shot + Streaming Mode
  • CPU Polling Mode
  • RTDMA Mode
 Yes
AES-MAC Generation and Verification
  • 128,192 and 256 bits Keys
  • CCM, CBC-MAC, CMAC, GCM
  • One-Shot + Streaming Mode
  • CPU Polling Mode
  • RTDMA Mode
 Yes
SHA Hashing Algorithm
  • MD5, SHA-1, SHA2-224, SHA2-256, SHA2-384, SHA2-512
  • HMAC SHA-256, HMAC SHA-512
  • One-Shot + Streaming Mode
  • CPU Polling Mode
  • RTDMA Mode
 Yes

SM3 Hashing Algorithm
  • SM3-512
  • CPU Polling Mode
  • RTDMA Mode
 Yes

SM4 Encryption and Decryption
  • CBC, CFB, CTR, ECB, OFB
  • CPU Polling Mode
  • RTDMA Mode
 Yes

RSA

Encryption and Decryption Signing and Verification
  • RSA 2048, 3072, 4096 bit
  • RSA PKCS1_5, PSS2_1
  • CPU Polling Mode

Yes

ECDSA

Signing and Verification
  • SECP256, SECP384, SECP521
  • BRAINPOOL-P512
  • CPU Polling Mode
 Yes

EDDSA

Signing and Verification
  • ED25519
  • CPU Polling Mode
 Yes

ECDH

Diffie Helman Key Exchange
  • SECP256, SECP384, SECP521
  • BRAINPOOL-P512
  • CPU Polling Mode
 Yes