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Jpascal's avatar
Jpascal
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3 years ago
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FPGA non-volatile key and tamper bit protection

Hi, To implement security feature on Cyclone V, I am following this application note : https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/docs/programmable/683269/current/using-the-design-security-features-in...
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  • NurAiman_M_Intel's avatar
    NurAiman_M_Intel
    3 years ago

    Hi,


    Apologies for the delay in response as I was checking this with our internal team.


    The conclusion after discussed with engineering is when the tamper resistance bit is set, that means the device will accept only encrypted POF. Therefore, you can’t reprogram the key.


    Since they key is lost and unable to reprogram the key, the device is unable to program.


    Regards,

    Aiman


NurAiman_M_Intel's avatar
NurAiman_M_Intel
Icon for Super Contributor rankSuper Contributor
3 years ago

Hi,


Per my understanding, the flash has been encrypted not the FPGA?

I am checking internally if we can recover the flash without the key. I will let you know once I get the findings.


Regards,

Aiman


  • Jpascal's avatar
    Jpascal
    Icon for New Contributor rankNew Contributor
    3 years ago

    Hi,

    Thank you for answering.

    I'm sorry if my primary post isn't clear enough. I can access the EPCQ through its serial interface so it's really not the problem here.

    My problem is :

    Because I activated tamper-protection, FPGA only accepts encrypted configuration file. I need to program a key on FPGA to decrypt configuration file but I can't do this because JTAG is in secure mode. So I can't program FPGA with .ekp file.

    I'm looking for a way to flash a key on FPGA, to be able to program FPGA with a configuration file.