The Open Compute Project (OCP) has granted S.A.F.E. recognition to PUFsecurity Corporation’s PUFrt, giving data center chip buyers an independent security assessment that identifies two low-severity fault-injection issues.
Tetrel Security Inc. completed the Scope 3 review July 29. Each finding received a 1.0 score under CVSS 4.0. The assessment identifies the PUFrt product by repository tag PM30C2 and firmware version 8; OCP’s rules limit recognition to the product assessed.
One finding concerns controls that mask stored bits. Tetrel found that fault injection could alter post-masking configuration bits and expose values meant to remain hidden. It also found that OTP and PUF bits could be permanently changed in a small percentage of attempts.
The second issue concerns the true random-number generator. Tetrel said injected faults could potentially cause it to produce repeated, nonrandom output. The report describes that outcome as a possibility, not an observed result. Tetrel said exploiting either issue would require considerable specialist effort. OCP’s Scope 3 reviews examine resistance to physical attacks, including glitches and side-channel analysis.
PUFsecurity is a subsidiary of eMemory Technology Inc. In an Oct. 19 announcement, eMemory said PUFrt combines its NeoPUF technology, NeoFuse one-time programmable memory and an entropy source. It said the product supports Caliptra 1.x and 2.x requirements and is designed to simplify integration for chip designers.
Caliptra provides a hardware security foundation for data center chips, including CPUs and GPUs. OCP says differences among chip designs helped drive the effort to create a reusable approach. OCP says S.A.F.E. reviews help chip buyers assess security and avoid redundant audits.
At an Oct. 12 Caliptra workshop, PUFsecurity Principal Security Architect Kent Chuang presented PUFrt, eMemory said. CHIPS Alliance lists Microsoft’s campus in Mountain View, California, as the workshop venue. The OCP Global Summit took place separately in San Jose from Oct. 12-15.
