Attestium documentation

The guides and reference for Attestium, the library for collecting and verifying runtime evidence: what each page covers and where to start.

Start here#

• Getting started: install, collect evidence locally, check it, and build a minimal attesterThe component on the machine being checked. It collects facts and reports them; it never decides the result. and verifierThe component that runs elsewhere, typically in CI: it sends a nonce, obtains references itself and compares. in Node.js.
• Concepts: attester, verifier and relying partyWhoever reads the verifier's result, for example on a status page.; evidence and references; nonceA random value the verifier chooses for one request, so that an old answer cannot be replayed. and digest binding; explaining every running file; failing versus inconclusive; evidence levels.

Guides#

• Ecosystems and references: per ecosystem, what is read on the machine, which reference the verifier uses, and what fails or is unverifiable. Also Go and Rust binaries, native binaries, the official Node.js release, containers and OCIOpen Container Initiative: the standard image and registry formats. Manifests and layers are addressed by SHA-256 digest. images, and Debian and Ubuntu packages.
• Hardware-backed evidence: TPMTrusted Platform Module: a chip with keys that cannot be exported and registers (PCRs) that can be extended but never set. quotes and enrollment, IMAIntegrity Measurement Architecture: the Linux kernel hashes files as they are used, logs each hash and extends PCR 10. log replay, AMD SEV-SNPAMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure Nested Paging: confidential VMs whose launch measurement the AMD chip signs. and Intel TDXIntel Trust Domain Extensions: confidential VMs whose measurement is signed through Intel's quoting enclave. reports, and how the nonce and digest are bound.
• Signatures and trust: SigstoreA public signing service: short-lived certificates from Fulcio tied to an OIDC identity, with signatures logged in Rekor. bundles, GitHub artifact attestations, npm provenance, signed checksum lists, release manifests and pinned hashes.
• Other languages: implement a compatible attester or verifier from the specification, with canonical JSON rules and test vectors.
• Forged answers: how a server can fake software evidence, with diagrams of where a forgery fails against a TPM, IMA and confidential VMs, and the rules a verifier must follow.
• Security model and limits: threat model, root on the machine, code compiled at run time, software keys versus TPM keys, trust in references.

Reference#

• API reference: every module, class and function.
• Evidence format specification: the evidence format, version 2.
• JSON Schema: the machine-readable definition of the format.
• Whitepaper: architecture, security model and background.

Related#

• Audit Status: a ready-made attester and verifier built on Attestium, which publishes results to a status page.