Installing Secure Firmware

Securing firmware involves signing both the bootloader and firmware using the ECC Prime256v1 keypair. The keypair’s private key is securely generated and stored on CubePilot's server. Once a signed bootloader is installed, only firmware signed with an authorized public-private key pair can run on the autopilot. Any unsigned firmware will be blocked from being loaded.

Failure to follow the secure firmware installation steps could result in the hardware malfunctioning.

To install the secure bootloader, complete the following steps:

1. Ensure the ArduPilot firmware build environment is installed using Linux or Windows WSL. For details, refer to the following website: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/building-the-code.html

2. Ensure the latest MAVProxy has been installed. For details, refer to the following website: https://ardupilot.org/mavproxy/docs/getting_started/download_and_installation.html#mavproxy-downloadinstall

3. Create a branch to develop the firmware locally.

4. Open Mission Planner.

5. Click Setup -> Secure.

6. Click Generate Key to create a public-private key pair.

1. Build a securely signed bootloader for the autopilot via the instructions in the following link: https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/tree/master/Tools/scripts/signing

1. Build a securely signed firmware and load it onto the autopilot via the instructions in the following link: https://github.com/ArduPilot/ardupilot/tree/master/Tools/scripts/signing

1. Use MAVProxy to flash the securely signed bootloader as the new bootloader.

2. Verify that the new secure bootloader has been installed.

For more details, refer to the following link: https://ardupilot.org/dev/docs/secure-firmware.html