Nimble: Rollback Protection for Confidential Cloud Services

Nimble is a service that helps applications running in trusted execution environments (TEEs) detect rollback attacks (i.e., detect whether a data item retrieved from persistent storage is the latest version).

Nimble can also be used as a generic tamper-proof fault-tolerant append-only ledger.

Nimble will appear at OSDI 2023.

To reproduce the results in our paper, please follow the instructions below to build Nimble and then see experiments/.

Dependencies

Install make, gcc, protobuf-compiler, perl, libssl-dev, and pkg-config. In Ubuntu, you can type:

sudo apt install make gcc libssl-dev pkg-config perl protobuf-compiler

Building and running tests

Install rustup

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/Nimble

To run tests:

cargo test

To build:

cargo build --release

Optional: to build the Nimble endorser that runs in Intel SGX with open enclave, please follow the instructions here.

Running a toy local setup with 2 endorsers, coordinator, REST endpoint, and sample REST client. Run each on a different terminal (or in the background, or with detached screen).

  ./target/release/endorser -p 9090
  ./target/release/endorser -p 9091 
  ./target/release/coordinator -e "http://localhost:9090,http://localhost:9091" 
  ./target/release/endpoint_rest
  ./target/release/light_client_rest

Details of Nimble's Rust binaries

Below are the different Nimble binaries, and some of the basic options. Each binary has many other options. You can see them by running the binary and with the --help flag.

Endorser

  ./target/release/endorser
    -t HOSTNAME
    -p PORT 

Coordinator

  ./target/release/coordinator
    -h HOSTNAME
    -p PORT
    -e "http://HOST_ENDORSER_1:PORT,http://HOST_ENDORSER_2:PORT,http://HOST_ENDORSER_3:PORT" 
    -s "memory" # use "table" to use Azure table instead and provide the following
    -a AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME
    -k AZURE_STORAGE_MASTER_KEY

Below is a helper tool to interact with the coordinator. After you kill some endorsers, you can add new ones (reconfiguration) by running.

  ./target/release/coordinator_ctrl 
    -c "http://HOST_COORDINATOR:PORT" 
    -a "http://HOST_NEW_ENDORSER_1:PORT;http://HOST_NEW_ENDORSER_2:PORT"

REST Endpoint

  ./target/release/endpoint_rest
    -t HOST
    -p PORT
    -c "http://HOST_COORDINATOR:PORT"

REST Client

  ./target/release/endpoint_rest
    -e "http://HOST_ENDPOINT:PORT"

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

When you submit a pull request, a CLA bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g., status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.