Abstract: In recent years, new types of attacks against the hardware in embedded devices have emerged, which seriously threaten the security of embedded devices. Especially, as non-volatile memory begins to be used in embedded devices, it is necessary to consider how to protect the security of embedded systems equipped with non-volatile memory. Secure memory is such a means to enhance the security of embedded systems by protecting their memory. It uses memory encryption technology to encrypt data in memory, thereby protecting the sensitive data in memory. A lightweight, low-overhead secure memory encryption engine is designed and integrated into the RISC-V embedded microprocessor. In addition, the secure memory encryption engine is evaluated on FPGA. The evaluation results show that the secure memory encryption engine can ensure reasonable memory access performance and small area overhead while obtaining security. The research results have good reference value and application prospects.

Key words: hardware security, RISC-V, secure memory encryption engine, AES, physical unclonable function