Apologies for the late reply. Was waiting for some announcements to settle down.
What I found out was this [0]. Comments welcome but I'd like to see how this plays out before making any decisions, since we use mbedTLS for https as well [0] https://lists.trustedfirmware.org/archives/list/[email protected]/thread/YPIGCB7WN6GCHOGEGKOJXUYAP7OK527W/ Thanks /Ilias On Thu, 24 Sept 2026 at 13:36, Ilias Apalodimas <[email protected]> wrote: > > [...] > > > >>> > > >>> Well, a problem I see is that this is something that needs active > > >>> maintenance to stay in sync as we don't want to miss important fixes > > >>> here. In theory, we get that with mbedtls (even if we're behind atm...). > > >>> > > >> > > >> Agreed. Importing the Linux implementation means taking responsibility > > >> for tracking upstream fixes. I’m willing to maintain this code, track > > >> changes to the Linux implementations and bring relevant fixes into > > >> U-Boot. I can also add a MAINTAINERS entry to make that responsibility > > >> explicit. > > >> The goal is to prepare U-Boot for early adoption of post-quantum > > >> cryptography in secure boot, particularly FIT image signing and > > >> signature verification as some hardware already ships with PQC > > >> capabilities. > > > > > > There are zero doubts that this is necessary; in fact we are already late. > > > > > >> The intention is to switch to Mbed TLS as soon as it provides production > > >> ready ML-DSA support and the required SHAKE functionality. That timeline > > >> is not clear to me yet so I’d like to prepare U-Boot in the meantime. > > >> Would this address your maintenance concern sufficiently to proceed with > > >> this approach? > > >> > > > > > > I can try to find out more about the mbedTLS roadmap if you are still > > > interested in going down that path. Arguably most country legislation > > > is looking to enforce PQC by 2030 so a month or two won't kill us. > > > There's another benefit apart from the 'less maintenance' when using > > > the external library path. IIRC, there isn't a single algorithm > > > acceptable to all legislative bodies.E.g, CNSA 2.0 does not adopt > > > SLH-DSA while most of Europe does. It would be much easier to use a > > > library and select the desired implementation (even stateful vs > > > stateless) instead of importing and maintaining everything. > > > > > > Thanks, any clarification you can get on the mbedTLS roadmap and the > > expected timeline for production-ready PQC support would be helpful. > > Will do > > > Separately from that U-Boot currently uses mbedTLS 3.6.x and moving to > > newer 4.x involves the split into TF-PSA-Crypto as a separate submodule > > and incompatible API changes. That migration is work to consider > > independently of PQC support. > > Yes last time I looked the gap wasn't massive, but it's there and > indeed frustrating. > > > Let’s revisit the PQC approach once we have more information on the roadmap. > > Will do get back to you! > > Thanks > /Ilias > > > > > > > Mit freundlichen Grüßen / Kind regards > > > > -- > > Ayoub Zaki > > Embedded Systems Consultant > > > > Vaihinger Straße 2/1 > > D-71634 Ludwigsburg > > > > Email : [email protected] > > Homepage : https://embetrix.com > > VAT No. : DE313902634 > >
