How to check whether Android phone supports TEE?

Question

I have read this two posts: One and Two, but I still have question.

I use KeyStore (Android 9) to generate an AES key, and use isInsideSecureHardware() method to check whether the key isInsideSecureHardware. I got return False. Sample code can be found here, and here.

public boolean isInsideSecureHardware ()

Returns true if the key resides inside secure hardware (e.g., Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) or Secure Element (SE)). Key material of such keys is available in plaintext only inside the secure hardware and is not exposed outside of it.

Thus, I want to further confirm whether my phone device (Huawei P20) supports TEE.

Question:

1. If the phone supports TEE, the key generated by KeyStore will be store into TEE automatically? Do I Need any manually configuration in Java? I heard that keys will be automatically stored in TEE, as long as you use KeyStore.getInstance(), KeyGenerator .getInstance(algorithm, KeyStore Name). But I am not sure this is True or Not?

2. If the answer of Q1 is "Need manually configuration", it becomes the reason of isInsideSecureHardware() returns False, right? If the answer of Q1 is "automatically", ignore Q2.

3. Any method to directly check whether the phone supports TEE, in Java?

Quintilla

Answer 1

From the Android keystore system docs:

Supported devices running Android 9 (API level 28) or higher installed can have a StrongBox Keymaster, an implementation of the Keymaster HAL that resides in a hardware security module. The module contains the following:
[...]
* Secure storage.
[...]
When checking keys stored in the StrongBox Keymaster, the system corroborates a key's integrity with the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE).
[...]
When generating or importing keys using the KeyStore class, you indicate a preference for storing the key in the StrongBox Keymaster by passing true to the setIsStrongBoxBacked() method.

In my understanding that means when you generate a Key and call keyGenParameterSpecBuilder.setIsStrongBoxBacked(true) for the key configuration you can ensure that it's backed by a TEE. If there is no TEE available, it'll throw a StrongBoxUnavailableException.

So to check if there's a TEE available you could just attempt to generate a key this way and see if it works.

Brushoff

StrongBox uses SE (separate hardware) not TEE (share CPU, separate OS), Not exactly same? – Quintilla

what if below Android 9 ( < API 28)? – Quintilla

I added setIsStrongBoxBacked(true) but still not work. I put the code here: #61231451 – Quintilla

No, your assumption is not correct. keyGenParameterSpecBuilder.setIsStrongBoxBacked(true)could throw an error even when TEE is available. You can verify it by examining the chain. setIsStrongBoxBackedmean only for StrongBox – Cornwallis

Answer 2

@JensV is correct: if you set setIsStrongBoxBacked on the keyGenParameterSpecBuilder, key generation will fail with a StrongBoxUnavailableException if StrongBox is not supported. However, the intermediate case - where there is a TEE (i.e. keys are generated and used within secure HW), but no support for StrongBox - is more tricky to discern.

In general, the way to go is to actually generate a key on the device, and then perform HW key attestation on it at the server - consulting the signed key properties to examine the exact degree of HW backing:

• generate a nonce (random byte string) ON The SERVER, pass it to the device
• generate a key on the device, requesting HW attestation by calling setAttestationChallenge on the KeyGenParameterSpec builder and passing in the nonce you get from the server (DO NOT USE A NONCE PRODUCED ON THE DEVICE)
• request the attestation chain for the key from the Android Key Store
• pass the attestation data (cert chain) to your server
• verify the attestation (signature) chain on your server
• confirm that the root cert matches a published Google root cert
• confirm that no cert in the chain hasn been revoked (check against CRL @ https://android.googleapis.com/attestation/status)
• examine the properties of the Google Key Attestation extension (OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.11129.2.1.17) of the leaf cert
  • confirm the nonce matches (attestationChallenge)
  • consult the attestationSecurityLevel of KeyDescription

SecurityLevel ::= ENUMERATED {
    Software  (0),
    TrustedEnvironment  (1),
    StrongBox  (2),
}

TrustedEnvironment and StrongBox both correspond to hardware-backed keys and crypto operations.

Diver

I'd like to add that after extensive research on the topics of attestation, secure keystore key import etc, this is an EXCELLENT answer that explains them too. It succinctly explains everything that needs to be done without missing on important details (I'm looking at you, Android documentation). I'd give a 100 upvotes if I could. – Wake

also refer to sample code - github.com/davidbarkhuizen/android-key-attestation-client, github.com/davidbarkhuizen/android-key-attestation-server – Diver

Would you agree with the answer to this question: #47346707 – Tasimeter