July 29, 2005 S29PL-J_00_A8
S29PL-J
47
Advance
Information
Persistent Sector Protection Mode Locking Bit
Like the password mode locking bit, a Persistent Sector Protection mode locking bit exists to
guarantee that the device remain in software sector protection. Once set, the Persistent Sector
Protection locking bit prevents programming of the password protection mode locking bit. This
guarantees that a hacker could not place the device in password protection mode.
Password Protection Mode
The Password Sector Protection Mode method allows an even higher level of security than the
Persistent Sector Protection Mode. There are two main differences between the Persistent Sector
Protection and the Password Sector Protection Mode:
When the device is first powered on, or comes out of a reset cycle, the PPB Lock bit set to the
locked state, rather than cleared to the unlocked state.
The only means to clear the PPB Lock bit is by writing a unique 64-bit Password to the device.
The Password Sector Protection method is otherwise identical to the Persistent Sector Protection
method.
A 64-bit password is the only additional tool utilized in this method.
Once the Password Mode Locking Bit is set, the password is permanently set with no means to
read, program, or erase it. The password is used to clear the PPB Lock bit. The Password Unlock
command must be written to the flash, along with a password. The flash device internally com-
pares the given password with the pre-programmed password. If they match, the PPB Lock bit
is cleared, and the PPBs can be altered. If they do not match, the flash device does nothing.
There is a built-in 2 s delay for each “password check.” This delay is intended to thwart any
efforts to run a program that tries all possible combinations in order to crack the password.
Password and Password Mode Locking Bit
In order to select the Password sector protection scheme, the customer must first program the
password. The password may be correlated to the unique Electronic Serial Number (ESN) of the
particular flash device. Each ESN is different for every flash device; therefore each password
should be different for every flash device. While programming in the password region, the cus-
tomer may perform Password Verify operations.
Once the desired password is programmed in, the customer must then set the Password Mode
Locking Bit. This operation achieves two objectives:
Permanently sets the device to operate using the Password Protection Mode. It is not possible to
reverse this function.
Disables all further commands to the password region. All program, and read operations are
ignored.
Both of these objectives are important, and if not carefully considered, may lead to unrecover-
able errors. The user must be sure that the Password Protection method is desired when setting
the Password Mode Locking Bit. More importantly, the user must be sure that the password is
correct when the Password Mode Locking Bit is set. Due to the fact that read operations are dis-
abled, there is no means to verify what the password is afterwards. If the password is lost after
setting the Password Mode Locking Bit, there will be no way to clear the PPB Lock bit.
The Password Mode Locking Bit, once set, prevents reading the 64-bit password on the DQ bus
and further password programming. The Password Mode Locking Bit is not erasable. Once Pass-
word Mode Locking Bit is programmed, the Persistent Sector Protection Locking Bit is disabled
from programming, guaranteeing that no changes to the protection scheme are allowed.