Create Matter device test certificates

While not a requirement, some testing scenarios require creating non-Production Matter certificates.

Some features of Google's ecosystem, including Device OTA Software Updates cannot be performed using a Test VID/PID.

This guide explains how to create and verify non-Production Matter certificates for use in testing. The types of certificates are:

The Certification Declaration (CD)
The Product Attestation Intermediate Certificate (PAI)
The Device Attestation Certificate (DAC)

During the commissioning process, a Matter certified device needs to attest itself, that is, prove that it is a genuine Matter-certified product. The credentials used by Matter devices for attestation consist of:

An attestation key pair
A certificate chain

The Device Attestation Certificate (DAC) is the first link of the certificate chain, and is validated by the Product Attestation Intermediate Certificate (PAI), which is, in turn, validated by the Product Attestation Authority (PAA).

Certificates are signed at the same time that the attestation key pair is generated, and are signed using the private key of the Certificate Authority one level above, forming a chain of trust. So, a DAC certificate is signed by a PAI key, and a PAI certificate is signed by a PAA key. Being the top of the chain, PAA certificates are self-signed. This chain of trust forms a federated PAA structure, which is synced by the Distributed Compliance Ledger (DCL).

More info about the Attestation process and Certification Declarations (CD) may be found in Additional Attestation Documents & Messages and in the Matter Specification.

Install the Matter SDK

These instructions assume you have a working installation of the Matter SDK. Please refer to its documentation on Github or see Get started with Matter for more information.

Install the hexdump utility xxd if you don't have it. This tool is useful for printing the credentials in a C-style format:

sudo apt-get install xxd

Build `chip-cert`

Ensure you are working on a recent version of the SDK. These procedures were tested on Github SHA 0b17bce8, on the v1.0-branch branch:
```
$ cd connectedhomeip
$ git checkout v1.0-branch
$ git pull
```

Build chip-cert, which is the tool used for several operations on credentials for Matter devices:

Configure the build:

$ cd src/credentials
$ source ../../scripts/activate.sh
$ gn gen out

Example gn output:

Done. Made 5774 targets from 289 files in 658ms

Run the build:

$ ninja -C out

Example ninja output:

ninja: Entering directory `out'
[2000/2000] stamp obj/default.stamp

Mint your certificates

Export your custom VID/PID as environment variables to decrease chances of clerical error when editing your command arguments:

$ cd ../..
$ export VID=hexVendorId
$ export PID=hexProductId

Generate a CD

Generate the CD using chip-cert. Currently the Commissioner only validates that the VID and PID match the data exposed elsewhere by the device: the Basic Information Cluster, DAC and DAC origin (when it has it). You may leave the other fields unchanged:

$ src/credentials/out/chip-cert gen-cd \
  --key credentials/test/certification-declaration/Chip-Test-CD-Signing-Key.pem \
  --cert credentials/test/certification-declaration/Chip-Test-CD-Signing-Cert.pem \
  --out credentials/test/certification-declaration/Chip-Test-CD-${VID}-${PID}.der \
  --format-version "1" \
  --vendor-id "${VID}" \
  --product-id "${PID}" \
  --device-type-id "0x1234" \
  --certificate-id "ZIG20141ZB330001-24" \
  --security-level "0" \
  --security-info "0" \
  --version-number "9876" \
  --certification-type "0"

Verify the CD. Make sure it contains your VID/PID (in decimal format):

$ src/credentials/out/chip-cert print-cd credentials/test/certification-declaration/Chip-Test-CD-${VID}-${PID}.der

Example output:

SignerKeyId value: hex:62FA823359ACFAA9963E1CFA140ADDF504F37160
0x01, tag[Anonymous]: 0xffffffff, type: Structure (0x15), container:
0x04,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x0, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: 1
0x08,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x1, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: XXXXX // <- VID
0x0A,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x2, type: Array (0x16), container:
0x0D,         tag[Anonymous]: 0xffffffff, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: XXXXX // <- PID
0x12,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x3, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: 4660
0x15,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x4, type: UTF-8 String (0x0c), length: 19, value: "ZIG20141ZB330001-24"
0x2B,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x5, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: 0
0x2E,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x6,type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: 0
0x32,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x7, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: 39030
0x35,     tag[Context Specific]: 0x8, type: Unsigned Fixed Point (0x04), value: 0

Generate a PAI and DAC

In this example we'll use Matter's own test Product Attestation Authority (PAA) certificate and signing key Chip-Test-PAA-NoVID as our root certificate. We'll use it as the root CA to generate our own PAI and DAC.

Generate the PAI using the PAA. You may optionally include the PID information in the PAI, but omitting it gives you more flexibility for testing. If you need DACs for additional PIDs, you can execute just the DAC generation step:

$ src/credentials/out/chip-cert gen-att-cert --type i \
  --subject-cn "Matter Test PAI" \
  --subject-vid "${VID}" \
  --valid-from "2021-06-28 14:23:43" \
  --lifetime "4294967295" \
  --ca-key credentials/test/attestation/Chip-Test-PAA-NoVID-Key.pem \
  --ca-cert credentials/test/attestation/Chip-Test-PAA-NoVID-Cert.pem \
  --out-key credentials/test/attestation/"test-PAI-${VID}-key".pem \
  --out credentials/test/attestation/"test-PAI-${VID}-cert".pem

Generate the DAC using the PAI:

$ src/credentials/out/chip-cert gen-att-cert --type d \
  --subject-cn "Matter Test DAC 0" \
  --subject-vid "${VID}" \
  --subject-pid "${PID}" \
  --valid-from "2021-06-28 14:23:43" \
  --lifetime "4294967295" \
  --ca-key credentials/test/attestation/"test-PAI-${VID}-key".pem \
  --ca-cert credentials/test/attestation/"test-PAI-${VID}-cert".pem \
  --out-key credentials/test/attestation/"test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-key".pem \
  --out credentials/test/attestation/"test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-cert".pem

Verify the DAC, PAI and PAA chain. If no errors appear in the output, it means that the certificate attestation chain is successfully verified:

$ src/credentials/out/chip-cert validate-att-cert \
--dac credentials/test/attestation/"test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-cert".pem \
--pai credentials/test/attestation/"test-PAI-${VID}-cert".pem \
--paa credentials/test/attestation/Chip-Test-PAA-NoVID-Cert.pem

You can inspect your keys using openssl:

$ openssl ec -noout -text -in \
  credentials/test/attestation/test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-key.pem

Example output:

read EC key
Private-Key: (256 bit)
priv:
    c9:f2:b3:04:b2:db:0d:6f:cd:c6:be:f3:7b:76:8d:
    8c:01:4e:0b:9e:ce:3e:72:49:3c:0e:35:63:7c:6c:
    6c:d6
pub:
    04:4f:93:ba:3b:bf:63:90:73:98:76:1e:af:87:79:
    11:e6:77:e8:e2:df:a7:49:f1:7c:ac:a8:a6:91:76:
    08:5b:39:ce:6c:72:db:6d:9a:92:b3:ba:05:b0:e8:
    31:a0:bf:36:50:2b:5c:72:55:7f:11:c8:01:ff:3a:
    46:b9:19:60:28
ASN1 OID: prime256v1
NIST CURVE: P-256

You may also use openssl to inspect your generated certificates:

$ openssl x509 -noout -text -in \
  credentials/test/attestation/test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-cert.pem

Example output:

Certificate:
    Data:
        Version: 3 (0x2)
        Serial Number: 2875998130766646679 (0x27e9990fef088d97)
        Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256
        Issuer: CN = Matter Test PAI, 1.3.6.1.4.1.37244.2.1 = hexVendorId
        Validity
            Not Before: Jun 28 14:23:43 2021 GMT
            Not After : Dec 31 23:59:59 9999 GMT
        Subject: CN = Matter Test DAC 0, 1.3.6.1.4.1.37244.2.1 = hexVendorId, 1.3.6.1.4.1.37244.2.2 = hexProductId
        Subject Public Key Info:
            Public Key Algorithm: id-ecPublicKey
                Public-Key: (256 bit)
                pub:
                    04:4f:93:ba:3b:bf:63:90:73:98:76:1e:af:87:79:
                    11:e6:77:e8:e2:df:a7:49:f1:7c:ac:a8:a6:91:76:
                    08:5b:39:ce:6c:72:db:6d:9a:92:b3:ba:05:b0:e8:
                    31:a0:bf:36:50:2b:5c:72:55:7f:11:c8:01:ff:3a:
                    46:b9:19:60:28
                ASN1 OID: prime256v1
                NIST CURVE: P-256
        X509v3 extensions:
            X509v3 Basic Constraints: critical
                CA:FALSE
            X509v3 Key Usage: critical
                Digital Signature
            X509v3 Subject Key Identifier:
                21:0A:CA:B1:B6:5F:17:65:D8:61:19:73:84:1A:9D:52:81:19:C5:39
            X509v3 Authority Key Identifier:
                37:7F:24:9A:73:41:4B:16:6E:6A:42:6E:F5:E8:89:FB:75:F8:77:BB
    Signature Algorithm: ecdsa-with-SHA256
    Signature Value:
        30:45:02:20:38:8f:c5:0d:3e:90:95:dd:7d:7c:e9:5a:05:19:
        1f:2d:14:08:a3:d7:0e:b5:15:6d:d3:b0:0b:f7:b8:28:4d:bf:
        02:21:00:d4:05:30:43:a6:05:00:0e:b9:99:0d:34:3d:75:fe:
        d3:c1:4e:73:ff:e7:05:64:7a:62:8d:2d:38:8f:fd:4d:ad

PAA

A similar process could be used for generating a self-signed PAA, but doing so is not necessary.

Instead, what we've done here is to use an existing self-signed development PAA that doesn't include VID information.

For more examples of generating a CD, look at credentials/test/gen-test-cds.sh And for more examples of generating a PAA, PAI, and DAC, see credentials/test/gen-test-attestation-certs.sh

Replace the certificates

Replace the PAA and PAI

Run the following helper script, which uses the CHIP Certificate Tool (chip-cert) to generate C-style arrays of your certificates.

Download the Embeddable Certificates Helper script

#!/bin/bash

#
# generate-embeddable-certs.sh script
# —----------------------------------
#
# This script generates self-minted DAC and PAI.
# The output may easily be included in your C++ source code.
#

# Edit this information with your paths and certificates
folder="credentials/test/attestation"
chip_cert_tool="src/credentials/out/chip-cert"
cert_file_der="${folder}/test-PAI-${VID}-cert.der"
cert_file_pem="${folder}/test-PAI-${VID}-cert.pem"
key_file_pem="${folder}/test-PAI-${VID}-key.pem"

type="Pai"

printf "namespace chip {\n"
printf "namespace DevelopmentCerts {\n\n"
printf "#if CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_DEVICE_PRODUCT_ID == ${PID}\n\n"

printcert() {
  # convert cert to DER
  if [ -f "${cert_file_der}" ]; then
      rm "${cert_file_der}"
  fi
  "${chip_cert_tool}" convert-cert "${cert_file_pem}" "${cert_file_der}" --x509-der

  printf "// ------------------------------------------------------------ \n"
  printf "// ${type} CERTIFICATE ${cert_file_der} \n\n"

  printf "constexpr uint8_t ${type}_Cert_Array[] = {\n"
  less -f "${cert_file_der}" | od -t x1 -An | sed 's/\ | sed 's/\>/,/g' | sed 's/^/   /g'
  printf "};\n\n"
  printf "ByteSpan k${type}Cert = ByteSpan(${type}_Cert_Array);\n\n"

  printf "// ${type} PUBLIC KEY FROM ${key_file_pem} \n\n"

  printf "constexpr uint8_t ${type}_PublicKey_Array[] = {\n"
  openssl ec -text -noout -in "${key_file_pem}" 2>/dev/null | sed '/ASN1 OID/d' | sed '/NIST CURVE/d' | sed -n '/pub:/,$p' | sed '/pub:/d' | sed 's/\([0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F]\)/0x\1/g' | sed 's/:/, /g'
  printf "};\n\n"
  printf "ByteSpan k${type}PublicKey = ByteSpan(${type}_PublicKey_Array);\n\n"

  printf "// ${type} PRIVATE KEY FROM ${key_file_pem} \n\n"

  printf "constexpr uint8_t ${type}_PrivateKey_Array[] = {\n"
  openssl ec -text -noout -in "${key_file_pem}" 2>/dev/null | sed '/read EC key/d' | sed '/Private-Key/d' | sed '/priv:/d' | sed '/pub:/,$d' | sed 's/\([0-9a-fA-F][0-9a-fA-F]\)/0x\1/g' | sed 's/:/, /g'
  printf "};\n\n"
  printf "ByteSpan k${type}PrivateKey = ByteSpan(${type}_PrivateKey_Array);\n\n"
}

# generates PAI
printcert

type="Dac"
cert_file_der="${folder}/test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-cert.der"
cert_file_pem="${folder}/test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-cert.pem"
key_file_pem="${folder}/test-DAC-${VID}-${PID}-key.pem"

# generates DAC
printcert

printf "#endif // CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_DEVICE_PRODUCT_ID\n"
printf "} // namespace DevelopmentCerts\n"
printf "} // namespace chip\n"

Copy the contents of the PAI and DAC output to your implementation of DeviceAttestationCredentialsProvider::GetProductAttestationIntermediateCert.

On production devices, the PAI and DAC are in Factory Data, while the CD is embedded in the firmware itself.

If you are not yet using Factory Data, you might want to place your PAI in src/credentials/examples/ExampleDACs.cpp. In this case, append the resulting generated code to your ExampleDACs.cpp file:

ByteSpan kDacCert       = ByteSpan(kDevelopmentDAC_Cert_FFF1_801F);
ByteSpan kDacPrivateKey = ByteSpan(kDevelopmentDAC_PrivateKey_FFF1_801F);
ByteSpan kDacPublicKey  = ByteSpan(kDevelopmentDAC_PublicKey_FFF1_801F);
#endif
} // namespace DevelopmentCerts
} // namespace chip

/* ------------------------------------------ */
/* current end-of-file                        */
/* ------------------------------------------ */

/* ------------------------------------------ */
/* output of creds-codelab.sh script          */
/* ------------------------------------------ */

namespace chip {
namespace DevelopmentCerts {

#if CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_DEVICE_PRODUCT_ID == hexProductId

...

ByteSpan kDacPrivateKey = ByteSpan(Dac_PrivateKey_Array);

#endif // CHIP_DEVICE_CONFIG_DEVICE_PRODUCT_ID
} // namespace DevelopmentCerts
} // namespace chip

If you are using Factory Data or a custom Credentials Provider, make sure to insert the credentials in the appropriate locations. You might want to check with your SoC provider on the specifics of your platform.

Replace the CD

Extract a text representation of the contents of your CD file using xxd:

  $ xxd -i credentials/test/certification-declaration/Chip-Test-CD-${VID}-${PID}.der

Example output:

  unsigned char credentials_test_certification_declaration_Chip_Test_CD_hexVendorId_hexProductId_der[] = {
    0x30, 0x81, 0xe9, 0x06, 0x09, 0x2a, 0x86, 0x48, 0x86, 0xf7, 0x0d, 0x01,
    0x07, 0x02, 0xa0, 0x81, 0xdb, 0x30, 0x81, 0xd8, 0x02, 0x01, 0x03, 0x31,
    0x0d, 0x30, 0x0b, 0x06, 0x09, 0x60, 0x86, 0x48, 0x01, 0x65, 0x03, 0x04,
    0x02, 0x01, 0x30, 0x45, 0x06, 0x09, 0x2a, 0x86, 0x48, 0x86, 0xf7, 0x0d,
    0x01, 0x07, 0x01, 0xa0, 0x38, 0x04, 0x36, 0x15, 0x24, 0x00, 0x01, 0x25,
    0x01, 0xfe, 0xca, 0x36, 0x02, 0x05, 0xce, 0xfa, 0x18, 0x25, 0x03, 0x34,
    0x12, 0x2c, 0x04, 0x13, 0x5a, 0x49, 0x47, 0x32, 0x30, 0x31, 0x34, 0x31,
    0x5a, 0x42, 0x33, 0x33, 0x30, 0x30, 0x30, 0x31, 0x2d, 0x32, 0x34, 0x24,
    0x05, 0x00, 0x24, 0x06, 0x00, 0x25, 0x07, 0x76, 0x98, 0x24, 0x08, 0x00,
    0x18, 0x31, 0x7d, 0x30, 0x7b, 0x02, 0x01, 0x03, 0x80, 0x14, 0x62, 0xfa,
    0x82, 0x33, 0x59, 0xac, 0xfa, 0xa9, 0x96, 0x3e, 0x1c, 0xfa, 0x14, 0x0a,
    0xdd, 0xf5, 0x04, 0xf3, 0x71, 0x60, 0x30, 0x0b, 0x06, 0x09, 0x60, 0x86,
    0x48, 0x01, 0x65, 0x03, 0x04, 0x02, 0x01, 0x30, 0x0a, 0x06, 0x08, 0x2a,
    0x86, 0x48, 0xce, 0x3d, 0x04, 0x03, 0x02, 0x04, 0x47, 0x30, 0x45, 0x02,
    0x20, 0x53, 0x25, 0x03, 0x2c, 0x96, 0x50, 0xb6, 0x64, 0xf4, 0x18, 0xbf,
    0x99, 0x47, 0xf8, 0x9d, 0xe6, 0xeb, 0x43, 0x94, 0xf1, 0xce, 0xb2, 0x61,
    0x00, 0xe0, 0xf9, 0x89, 0xa8, 0x71, 0x82, 0x02, 0x0a, 0x02, 0x21, 0x00,
    0xea, 0x0a, 0x40, 0xab, 0x87, 0xad, 0x7e, 0x25, 0xe1, 0xa1, 0x6c, 0xb1,
    0x12, 0xfa, 0x86, 0xfe, 0xea, 0x8a, 0xaf, 0x4b, 0xc1, 0xf3, 0x6f, 0x09,
    0x85, 0x46, 0x50, 0xb6, 0xd0, 0x55, 0x40, 0xe2
  };
  unsigned int credentials_test_certification_declaration_Chip_Test_CD_hexVendorId_hexProductId_der_len = 236;
  ```

Copy the text you extracted in the previous step to the file used to define the CD into your build. As in the case of PAI and DAC, how you do this depends on which platform you're developing on.

If you are using the credentials examples, you probably want to replace the contents of kCdForAllExamples in ExampleDACProvider::GetCertificationDeclaration, in src/credentials/examples/DeviceAttestationCredsExample.cpp:

    const uint8_t kCdForAllExamples[] = {
            0x30, 0x81, 0xe9, 0x06, 0x09, 0x2a, 0x86, 0x48, 0x86, 0xf7, 0x0d, 0x01,
            0x07, 0x02, 0xa0, 0x81, 0xdb, 0x30, 0x81, 0xd8, 0x02, 0x01, 0x03, 0x31,
            0x0d, 0x30, 0x0b, 0x06, 0x09, 0x60, 0x86, 0x48, 0x01, 0x65, 0x03, 0x04,
            0x02, 0x01, 0x30, 0x45, 0x06, 0x09, 0x2a, 0x86, 0x48, 0x86, 0xf7, 0x0d,
            0x01, 0x07, 0x01, 0xa0, 0x38, 0x04, 0x36, 0x15, 0x24, 0x00, 0x01, 0x25,
            0x01, 0xfe, 0xca, 0x36, 0x02, 0x05, 0xce, 0xfa, 0x18, 0x25, 0x03, 0x34,
            0x12, 0x2c, 0x04, 0x13, 0x5a, 0x49, 0x47, 0x32, 0x30, 0x31, 0x34, 0x31,
            0x5a, 0x42, 0x33, 0x33, 0x30, 0x30, 0x30, 0x31, 0x2d, 0x32, 0x34, 0x24,
            0x05, 0x00, 0x24, 0x06, 0x00, 0x25, 0x07, 0x76, 0x98, 0x24, 0x08, 0x00,
            0x18, 0x31, 0x7d, 0x30, 0x7b, 0x02, 0x01, 0x03, 0x80, 0x14, 0x62, 0xfa,
            0x82, 0x33, 0x59, 0xac, 0xfa, 0xa9, 0x96, 0x3e, 0x1c, 0xfa, 0x14, 0x0a,
            0xdd, 0xf5, 0x04, 0xf3, 0x71, 0x60, 0x30, 0x0b, 0x06, 0x09, 0x60, 0x86,
            0x48, 0x01, 0x65, 0x03, 0x04, 0x02, 0x01, 0x30, 0x0a, 0x06, 0x08, 0x2a,
            0x86, 0x48, 0xce, 0x3d, 0x04, 0x03, 0x02, 0x04, 0x47, 0x30, 0x45, 0x02,
            0x20, 0x53, 0x25, 0x03, 0x2c, 0x96, 0x50, 0xb6, 0x64, 0xf4, 0x18, 0xbf,
            0x99, 0x47, 0xf8, 0x9d, 0xe6, 0xeb, 0x43, 0x94, 0xf1, 0xce, 0xb2, 0x61,
            0x00, 0xe0, 0xf9, 0x89, 0xa8, 0x71, 0x82, 0x02, 0x0a, 0x02, 0x21, 0x00,
            0xea, 0x0a, 0x40, 0xab, 0x87, 0xad, 0x7e, 0x25, 0xe1, 0xa1, 0x6c, 0xb1,
            0x12, 0xfa, 0x86, 0xfe, 0xea, 0x8a, 0xaf, 0x4b, 0xc1, 0xf3, 0x6f, 0x09,
            0x85, 0x46, 0x50, 0xb6, 0xd0, 0x55, 0x40, 0xe2
        };

Build the target

Build and flash your target using your newly-minted credentials. This section is platform dependent. See your SoC documentation or Supported devices for more information.

Commission the device

You may now follow the steps already covered in Pair a Matter device to commission your Matter device on the Google Home platform.

Debug issues using `chip-tool`

chip-tool can be a valuable tool for checking if your device sends the correct certificates. To build it:

$ cd examples/chip-tool
$ gn gen out/debug
Done. Made 114 targets from 112 files in 157ms
$ ninja -C out/debug
ninja: Entering directory `out/debug'
$ cd ../..

To enable additional logs, whenever running chip-tool, make sure to pass the --trace_decode 1 flag. Moreover, it's a good practice to pass the path of your PAA file with the --paa-trust-store-path flag.

Thus to commission a Thread device using BLE, you can run:

```
$ examples/chip-tool/out/debug/chip-tool pairing ble-thread 1 \
  hex:Thread_credentials \
  pairing_code \
  discriminator \
  --paa-trust-store-path <path to PAA folder> \
  --trace_decode 1
```

In the case of test devices, <PAIRING CODE> is 20202021 and <DISCRIMINATOR> is 3840.

To obtain your Thread credentials from your Google Nest Hub (2nd gen), you may run:

$ adb connect border_router_ip_address
$ adb -e shell ot-ctl dataset active -x
$ adb disconnect

And to commission a Wi-Fi device, you can use the ble-wifi option:

$ examples/chip-tool/out/debug/chip-tool pairing ble-wifi 1 "SSID" SSID_password pairing_code discriminator

Prepare an OTA image

Test a Matter OTA

Create Matter device test certificates

Install the Matter SDK

Build chip-cert

Mint your certificates

Generate a CD

Generate a PAI and DAC

PAA

Replace the certificates

Replace the PAA and PAI

Replace the CD

Build the target

Commission the device

Debug issues using chip-tool

Build `chip-cert`

Debug issues using `chip-tool`