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MCHP CONFIDENTIAL - NDA Required
DS00004691A-page 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Soteria-G3 is a firmware design executed on the CEC173x family of devices. It can be used in conjunction with any
application processor (AP) that boots out of an external SPI Flash device to extend the Root-of-Trust (RoT) and enforce
a secure boot process in the system.
Soteria-G3 uses the CEC173x immutable secure bootloader, implemented in ROM, as the system RoT. The CEC173x
secure bootloader loads, decrypts, and authenticates the embedded controller firmware from the external (or internal)
SPI Flash device. The validated Soteria-G3 that runs on the CEC173x is designed to subsequently authenticate the
application processor firmware (AP_FW) located in the same SPI Flash component and up to three additional SPI Flash
components.
Soteria-G3 prevents the system from booting unless the AP_FW stored in the external SPI Flash device is authentic
code signed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). It offers security features to authenticate the SPI Flash
image in the external SPI Flash device.
The validated AP_FW that runs on the application processor can utilize crypto resources in the CEC173x to authenticate
other code in the system, thereby extending the Chain-of-Trust (CoT) to ensure that all code running in the system is
authorized.
Soteria-G3 also supports secure firmware updates, which can authenticate updates to both AP_FW and Soteria-G3 in
the system.
This application note provides details on how to use MPLAB
® Code Configurator (MCC) with the CEC173x part and use
Soteria-G3 secure-boot solution.
This document is limited to providing the user with a high-level overview of MCC, Soteria-G3, and getting started with
using Soteria-G3 in CEC173x part.
1.1 Sections
This document includes the following topics:
Section 2.0, "Setting Up an MCC Project with Soteria-G3 Library"
Section 3.0, "Soteria-G3 Sample Library Project"
Section 4.0, "Soteria-G3 Library Project Structure"
Section 5.0, "Soteria-G3 Library APIs"
Section 6.0, "Soteria-G3 User Interaction and Feedback"
Section 7.0, "Application Tasks for Debugging"
1.2 References
Consult the following references for details on the specific parts referred to in this document:
• MPLAB® Code Configurator (MCC) Getting Started: https://microchipdeveloper.com/mcc:start
AN4691
Getting Started with MCC and Soteria-G3
Author: Shreyas Kannan
Microchip Technology Inc.
