Bootloader configuration in Matter

All Matter nodes are required to implement a firmware update mechanism that validates the authenticity of new firmware before executing it. To meet this requirement, Nordic Semiconductor recommends using MCUboot bootloader for installing a new firmware image.

This page contains guidelines for configuring the MCUboot bootloader in Matter projects.

Adding MCUboot to application

Read Adding MCUboot as an immutable bootloader to learn how to add MCUboot to an nRF Connect SDK application. Some Matter samples include Device Firmware Update (DFU) support out of the box, as listed in the sample feature matrix table.

MCUboot minimal configuration

MCUboot is by default configured to enable debug features, such as logs. You can reduce the size of the bootloader image by disabling unnecessary features.

See the following files for the MCUboot minimal configuration used by Matter samples in the nRF Connect SDK:

  • prj.conf file located in each sample’s sysbuild/mcuboot directory

  • Board files located in each sample’s sysbuild/mcuboot/boards directory

  • Kconfig.sysbuild file located in each sample’s directory.

This configuration allows to reduce the flash partition occupied by MCUboot to 24 kB.

Partition layout

Each application that uses MCUboot must use Partition Manager to define partitions of the flash memory. This is needed for the bootloader to know where the current and the new firmware images are located in the flash.

Consider the following when defining partitions for your end product:

  • There are multiple ways to define partitions using Partition Manager. For example, each Matter sample provides a pm_static_dfu.yml file (one for each configuration) that statically defines the partition layout. See Reference Matter memory layouts to confirm the reference partition layout for each supported platform.

  • Given the size of the Matter stack, it will usually not be possible to fit both the primary and the secondary slot in the internal flash in order to store the current and the new firmware image, respectively. Instead, you should use the external flash to host the secondary slot.

    Note

    Remember to enable a proper flash driver when placing the secondary slot in the external flash. For example, if you develop your application on a Nordic Semiconductor’s development kit that includes a QSPI NOR flash module, set the CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR Kconfig option.

  • When selecting the partition sizes, take into account that some of the partitions, such as settings and factory data ones, are not modified during the DFU process. This means that performing DFU from one firmware version to another using different partition sizes may not be possible, and you will not be able to change the partition sizes without reprogramming the device. Trying to perform DFU between applications that use incompatible partition sizes can result in unwanted application behavior, depending on which partitions are overlapping. In some cases, this may corrupt some partitions; in others, this can lead to a DFU failure.

  • The MCUboot requires its mcuboot_primary and mcuboot_secondary partitions to be located under offsets being aligned to the 4 kB flash page size. Selecting offset values that are not aligned to 4 kB for these partititions will lead to erase failures, and result in a DFU failure.

Settings partition

The nRF Connect platform in Matter uses Zephyr’s Settings API to provide the storage capabilities to the Matter stack. This requires that you define the settings_storage partition in the flash. The recommended minimum size of the partition is 32 kB, but you can reserve even more space if your application uses the storage extensively.

The Zephyr settings storage is implemented by the Zephyr NVS (Non-Volatile Storage) or ZMS (Zephyr Memory Storage) backends. You can select either backend, and the selection affects several factors, such as the operational performance or memory lifetime. To achieve the optimal experience, it is recommended to use:

  • NVS backend for the flash-based nRF52 and nRF53 SoC families.

  • ZMS backend for the RRAM- and MRAM-based nRF54 SoC families.

The settings backend uses multiple sectors of 4 kB each, and it must use the appropriate number of sectors to cover the entire settings partition area. To configure the number of sectors used by the backend, set the corresponding Kconfig option to the desired value:

For example, to cover a settings partition of 32 kB in size, you require 8 sectors.

As you can see in Reference Matter memory layouts, Matter samples in the nRF Connect SDK reserve exactly 32 kB for the settings_storage partition.

Factory data partition

If you make a real Matter product, you also need the factory_data partition to store the factory data. The factory data contains a set of immutable device identifiers, certificates and cryptographic keys, programmed onto a device at the time of the device fabrication. For that partition one flash page of 4 kB should be enough in most use cases.

By default, the factory_data partition is write-protected with the Hardware flash write protection driver (fprotect). The hardware limitations require that the write-protected areas are aligned to CONFIG_FPROTECT_BLOCK_SIZE. For this reason, to effectively implement fprotect, make sure that the partition layout of the application meets the following requirements:

  • The factory_data partition is placed right after the app partition in the address space (that is, the factory_data partition offset must be equal to the last address of the app partition).

  • The settings_storage partition size is a multiple of CONFIG_FPROTECT_BLOCK_SIZE, which may differ depending on the SoC in use.

See the following figure and check the Reference Matter memory layouts to make sure your implementation is correct.

Factory data partition implementation criteria for fprotect

Factory data partition implementation criteria for fprotect

In case your memory map does not follow these requirements, you can still use the factory data implementation without the write protection by setting the CONFIG_CHIP_FACTORY_DATA_WRITE_PROTECT to n, although this is not recommended.

See the Generating factory data section on the Device Attestation page for more information about the factory data in Matter.

Signing keys

MCUboot uses asymmetric cryptography to validate the authenticity of firmware. The public key embedded in the bootloader image is used to validate the signature of a firmware image that is about to be booted. If the signature check fails, MCUboot rejects the image and either:

  • rolls back to the last valid firmware image if the fallback recovery has not been disabled using the MCUboot’s SB_CONFIG_MCUBOOT_MODE_OVERWRITE_ONLY Kconfig option.

  • fails to boot.

Note

To help you get started with MCUboot and ease working with sample applications, MCUboot comes with a default key pair for the firmware image validation. As the key pair is publicly known, it provides no protection against the image forgery. For this reason, when making a real product, it is of the greatest importance to replace it with a unique key pair, known only to the device maker.

Read Adding a custom signature key file to learn how to configure MCUboot to use a custom key pair.

Downgrade protection

The downgrade protection mechanism makes it impossible for an attacker to trick a user to install a firmware image older than the currently installed one. The attacker might want to do this to reintroduce old security vulnerabilities that have already been fixed in newer firmware revisions. You should enable the downgrade protection mechanism if you choose to enable MCUboot’s SB_CONFIG_MCUBOOT_MODE_OVERWRITE_ONLY Kconfig option, which disables the fallback recovery in case of a faulty upgrade.