libfiat 0.1.3

A Python 3 client for interacting with FIAT-based firmware

The context for FIAT is somewhat standard for physical implementation, e.g., side-channel attacks. At a (very) high level, it can be modelled as follows

+---------------------------+                 +--------------------------+
|          client           |                 |          target          |
+===========================+                 +==========================+
|                           | ----- req ----> | kernel layer             |
|                           | <---- ack ----- |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|                           |                 | driver layer: SPRs, GPRs |
|                           |                 |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
|                           | <-- trigger --- |  board layer: UART, GPIO |
+---------------------------+                 +--------------------------+

in the sense that there are two parties, a client (or user) and a target, who interact synchronously: the client transmits a req(uest) to the target, the target performs some computation, then the target transmits an ack(nowledgement) to the client, FIAT structures the target implementation into

1. a kernel layer, i.e., the use-case specific functionality of interest,
2. a board layer, i.e., infrastructure related to the hardware, or board said functionality is executed on,
3. a driver layer, which uses the board layer to provide an interface to the kernel,

noting the state is reflected by a set of special- and general-purpose registers. The goal is to support both

• the target implementation, e.g., by providing the board and driver layers, plus a build system, meaning the developer need only configure and implement the kernel layer, and
• the client implementation, e.g., by providing a library that manages low-level interaction with a given target implementation,

while at least attempting to balance simplicity against flexibility.