ESP32S2 and secp256k1 ECC support

[Simon76]

Hello,
I could not find examples related to the ability of the ESP32S2 secure chip to sign a message using elliptic curve cryptography with the curve secp256k1 that is the standard in blockchain cryptography to sign transactions.

Any advice on whether it's supported and an example on how to use it?

Thanks

[ESP_Angus]

Hi Simon,

The ESP32-S2 SDK (ESP-IDF) uses mbedTLS as its primary cryptography library. The ECC support in mbedTLS includes support for secp256k1 curves and trhe signature algorithms ECDSA & Deterministic ECDSA.

You should be able to adapt any mbedTLS example of the ECC signature type you need for ESP-IDF, and produce secp256k1 signatures this way.

The hardware Multiple Precision Arithmetic accelerator helps a little with ECC operations, however not as much as a dedicated accelerator would do. Recommend configuring the CPU to 240MHz if possible for best performance.

Angus

[Simon76]

Thanks Angus for your reply, I've not yet tried it, anyway my main concern is about the ability of the on-board secure element to actually make the signature: not tho gain a performance improvement (although it is welcome), but to make use of the private key stored in the eFuses such that it is neither generated nor "seen" by the software itself.

Exactly the same way the DS module can securely sign messages using RSA, I would use it to sign messages using ECC secp256k1, but I can't see any mention of this feature in the Digital Signature (DS) module docs of the ESP32S2.

Just wondering if maybe it's there but still undocumented, or if you plan to add it in the future: ECC secp256k1 (and other curves too) represent the standard for blockchain cryptography.

To give you some more context, this is one example of a board with a secure element designed by IoTeX taking advantage of the secure element on the nrf-9160 to make it an ultra-secure blockchain-enabled IoT board.

[ESP_Angus]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for explaining, I didn't realise you were interested in secure element functionality in particular.

This is not supported in ESP32-S2, for the functionality described above the ECC key would be accessible by software running on the ESP32-S2. The Digital Signature Peripheral provides secure-element-like functionality where the key remains inaccessible to software, but it can only generate RSA signatures.

There is also the ESP32-WROOM-32SE (pdf link), which includes an ESP32 and an secure element inside the module. This element supports ECC signatures but unfortunately not the secp256k1 curve.

We'll consider if we can add support for ECDSA, and in particular this curve, in the future.

[asl007]

Hi,

@ESP_Angus I am trying to find a development kit based on ESP32-WROOM-32SE (the one with ATECC608A) but cannot find any.
All of the dev kits seem to be based on ESP32 versions without the embedded ATECC608A.

Would you be able to let me know if there is actually any dev board containing the secure element?

Thanks