mbedTLS Integration

Overview

Use this skill to integrate mbedTLS on embedded targets by proving entropy/RNG, time, certificate storage, transport I/O, and memory configuration before debugging application protocols. TLS failures often come from platform hooks rather than cryptography logic.

When To Use

Use this skill when:

• The user wants TLS, HTTPS, MQTT over TLS, DTLS, X.509, crypto, or secure boot-related primitives using mbedTLS.
• The issue involves handshake failure, certificate validation, entropy source, RNG, memory allocation, time validity, or socket callbacks.
• The target is resource-constrained or has hardware crypto/TRNG.

Do not use this skill for generic networking before TCP/IP works. Use lwip-integration first when connectivity is unproven. For lightweight ECC-only operations, use micro-ecc-integration or tinycrypt-integration.

First Questions

Ask for:

• mbedTLS version, target MCU/RTOS, compiler, and network stack.
• Use case: TLS client, TLS server, DTLS, crypto only, MQTT TLS, HTTPS, or certificate parsing.
• mbedtls_config.h, enabled features, heap/static allocation policy, and hardware crypto use.
• Entropy/RNG source and time source.
• Certificate chain model, CA storage, SNI/hostname verification, and current error code.

Integration Checklist

1. Prove entropy and RNG.

TLS requires a real entropy source. Do not ship deterministic test entropy.

1. Configure time.

Certificate validation needs valid time or an explicit product policy for time-less validation.

1. Bound memory.

Configure record size, heap, I/O buffers, certificate features, and algorithms for MCU limits.

1. Connect transport callbacks.

Network send/recv callbacks must handle non-blocking, timeout, and partial I/O correctly.

1. Validate certificates.

Use CA chain, hostname/SNI, and expected verification policy. Do not disable verification silently.

1. Decode error codes.

Convert negative mbedTLS errors to readable names before guessing.

Common Failures

• Handshake fails because time is unset.
• Certificate verification is disabled to "make it work".
• Entropy source is weak or not initialized.
• Heap is too small for certificate chain or record buffers.
• Socket callbacks treat timeout as fatal or ignore partial writes.
• SNI hostname does not match broker/server certificate.

Verification

Before claiming mbedTLS works:

• State use case, mbedTLS version, entropy source, time source, and memory policy.
• Confirm a handshake to the target server with certificate verification enabled, unless explicitly out of scope.
• Report decoded error codes for failures.
• Confirm secrets, private keys, and certificates are not logged.
• Confirm memory usage fits the target.

Example

User:

MQTT 加 mbedTLS 后握手失败。

Agent:

1. Asks for mbedTLS error code, config, entropy/time source, broker certificate, SNI, and heap size.
2. Decodes the error and checks time/certificate verification before MQTT logic.
3. Verifies TLS connect before MQTT connect.