MCUboot project joins the Linaro Community Projects division

MCUboot is a secure bootloader for 32-bit MCUs. Founding members of this project include Arm, Infineon Technologies, Linaro, Nordic Semiconductor and STMicroelectronics. 

The number and breadth of IoT devices continues to grow with trillions of sensors deployed in the near future. Each of these devices becomes a potential security breach point as they come onto the networks. Securing these devices from installation to updates and retirement is critical 
for corporate and personal security. 

The MCUboot project aims to define a common infrastructure for the bootloader and system flash layout on microcontroller systems to ensure secure and easy software upgrades. The project is joining the Linaro Community Projects Division in order to formalize the collaborative process, helping thereby accelerate the pace at which a standardized, secure bootloader can be realized. 

“As the IoT continues to evolve, security cannot be optional and is a shared responsibility across the software ecosystem,” said Mark Hambleton, vice president, open-source software at Arm. “MCUboot is already being incorporated into a number of Arm security solutions and we welcome its adoption as a Linaro Community Project, enabling further transparency and wider community access to secure technologies.”

“Having a common Open Source and Peer Reviewed Bootloader with multi-staged security and flexibility is highly important for embedded developers of secure systems” said Danny Watson, Principle Product Marketing Engineer at Infineon Technologies. “Infineon products, including our PSoC® 64 Secure Microcontrollers, leverage the capabilities of MCUboot to deliver on this need. We look forward to our  continued contribution, effort and expertise to the project, bringing a standardized, easy to use and highly secure bootloader.”

“Standardization and common reference implementations are critical in securing the billions of IoT devices out in the wild”, said Robert Booth, Linaro COO. “We are thrilled to see MCUboot become a Linaro Community Project and look forward to working with its members on defining a  common infrastructure to enable secure and easy software upgrades.”

“In order for devices to be upgraded in an easy and secure manner, we believe a common infrastructure which is based on open-source code is critical. A fully open source and open governance project like MCUboot enables a wider community of users and contributors, which in turn increases distributed usage and testing, resulting in better reliability and security in the bootloader”, said Andrzej Puzdrowski, Senior Firmware Engineer at Nordic Semiconductor. “This is why MCUboot forms part of the firmware offering for our MCUs.”

“The MCUboot project was established to address the global need, from all corners of the microcontroller ecosystem, for a robust secure boot and now, as a Linaro Community Project, the effort is truly open,” said Ricardo De Sa Earp, Group Vice President and General Manager of the Microcontrollers Division at STMicroelectronics. “We welcome the transition of MCUboot into an open governance project and are excited to work with all members to define the foundation of an industry-standard secure boot that reassures customers of their safety and security while encouraging innovation by further improving the security level of STM32 microcontrollers.”

Operating system and hardware independent, MCUboot currently works with Apache Mynewt, Zephyr, and Mbed OS operating systems, as well as with the Trusted Firmware-M secure environment. The project plans to support upcoming standards such as Software Updates for IoT (SUIT), the recent NIST Cybersecurity for IoT Guidance drafts (NISTIR 8259D) and the FIDO Device Onboarding (DO) standard. The project also plans to continue support for new devices and new technologies in those devices. 

About MCUboot
MCUboot is a Linaro Community Project which is working to define a common infrastructure for the bootloader and system flash layout on microcontroller systems. By defining this infrastructure, the project aims to provide a bootloader which ensures secure and easy software  upgrades. For more information on the project, go to www.mcuboot.com 

About Linaro Community Projects 
Linaro Community Projects Division is the division of Linaro managing open-source community projects with open governance. Linaro is leading collaboration on open-source development in the Arm ecosystem. The company has over 250 engineers working on consolidating and 
optimizing open-source software for the Arm architecture, including developer tools, the Linux kernel, Arm power management, and other software infrastructure. Linaro is distribution neutral: it wants to provide the best software foundations to everyone by working upstream, and to 
reduce non-differentiating and costly low-level fragmentation. The effectiveness of the Linaro approach has been demonstrated by Linaro consistently being listed as one of the top ten company contributors, worldwide, to Linux kernels since 3.10. To ensure commercial quality  software, Linaro’s work includes comprehensive test and validation on member hardware platforms. 

The full scope of Linaro engineering work is open to all online. To find out more, please visit https://www.linaro.org/ and http://www.96Boards.org

Contact Information

Ebba Simpson

Senior Marketing Manager

Linaro Ltd

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