Arm® TrustZone®

Arm® TrustZone® is a hardware-based security technology available on certain Arm processor cores, such as Cortex-M33. In CodeFusion Studio, devices such as the MAX32657 include TrustZone support.

It allows you to create independent secure and non-secure execution environments:

• Secure environment — runs trusted code and protects sensitive assets, such as secure boot, cryptographic libraries, or key storage.
• Non-secure environment — runs code that does not require isolation, such as the main application, drivers, and general-purpose user code.

This separation ensures that critical assets and operations are protected, even if the non-secure code is compromised.

In CodeFusion Studio, these execution environments are represented as separate projects in your workspace.

Note

For more background on TrustZone, see the Arm TrustZone overview.

Enable TrustZone support in CodeFusion Studio

In CodeFusion Studio, TrustZone support is available when creating a new workspace on supported devices, such as the MAX32657. You can enable it in two ways:

• TF-M Secure Partition template: Quick start with a ready-to-use TF-M setup. Best if you want a secure baseline aligned with Zephyr and ADI defaults.
• Manual configuration: More control and flexibility over secure or non-secure project structure. Suitable for advanced users or custom applications.

Create a TrustZone-enabled project

To create a TrustZone-enabled project, start by following the general steps in Create a new workspace.

1. Select a supported device, such as the MAX32657, then choose a board.
2. In the Workspace Creation Options screen, choose one of the following approaches.

TF-M Secure Partition template

Select the TF-M Secure Partition template configured with Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M) support. This option automatically sets up a secure partition environment using ADI defaults.

Manual configuration

1. Select the Enable TrustZone toggle.
2. Choose one or both of the following project types:
   • Secure (Protected Execution Environment)
   • Non-secure (Standard Execution Environment)
3. Continue with the remaining steps to finish creating your workspace.

TrustZone support project flags

When you select secure and non-secure environments, CodeFusion Studio clearly marks each project with a flag. If both environments are selected, you will step through two configuration screens, one for each environment.

For example, in the image below you can see:

• The label 1 of 2 projects, showing that two projects (secure and non-secure) were created for this core.
• The Secure flag, indicating that this is the secure project.

These flags also appear in System Planner, helping you distinguish secure and non-secure configurations.