# ESP HTTPS OTA

[中文]

## Overview

`esp_https_ota` provides simplified APIs to perform firmware upgrades over HTTPS. It is an abstraction layer over the existing OTA APIs.

>     esp_err_t do_firmware_upgrade()
>     {
>         esp_http_client_config_t config = {
>             .url = CONFIG_FIRMWARE_UPGRADE_URL,
>             .cert_pem = (char *)server_cert_pem_start,
>         };
>         esp_https_ota_config_t ota_config = {
>             .http_config = &config,
>         };
>         esp_err_t ret = esp_https_ota(&ota_config);
>         if (ret == ESP_OK) {
>             esp_restart();
>         } else {
>             return ESP_FAIL;
>         }
>         return ESP_OK;
>     }

## Server Verification

Please refer to ESP-TLS: TLS Server Verification for more information on server verification. The root certificate in PEM format needs to be provided to the `esp_http_client_config_t::cert_pem` member.

Note

The server-endpoint root certificate should be used for verification instead of any intermediate ones from the certificate chain. The reason is that the root certificate has the maximum validity and usually remains the same for a long period of time. Users can also use the `esp_http_client_config_t::crt_bundle_attach` member for verification by the `ESP x509 Certificate Bundle` feature, which covers most of the trusted root certificates.

## Partial Image Download over HTTPS

To use the partial image download feature, you need to:

- Enable the component-level configuration: Enable CONFIG_ESP_HTTPS_OTA_ENABLE_PARTIAL_DOWNLOAD in menuconfig (`Component config` → `ESP HTTPS OTA` → `Enable partial HTTP download for OTA`)

- Enable the feature in your application: Set the `partial_http_download` field in `esp_https_ota_config_t` configuration structure

When this configuration is enabled, firmware image will be downloaded in multiple HTTP requests of specified sizes. Maximum content length of each request can be specified by setting `max_http_request_size` to the required value.

This option is useful while fetching image from a service like AWS S3, where mbedTLS Rx buffer size (CONFIG_MBEDTLS_SSL_IN_CONTENT_LEN) can be set to a lower value which is not possible without enabling this configuration.

Default value of mbedTLS Rx buffer size is set to 16 KB. By using `partial_http_download` with `max_http_request_size` of 4 KB, size of mbedTLS Rx buffer can be reduced to 4 KB. With this configuration, memory saving of around 12 KB is expected.

Note

If the server uses chunked transfer encoding, partial downloads are not feasible because the total content length is not known in advance.

## OTA Resumption

To use the OTA resumption feature, enable the `ota_resumption` configuration in the `esp_https_ota_config_t`. When OTA resumption is enabled, an OTA image download which has failed previously can be resumed from its intermediate state instead of restarting the whole OTA process from the beginning. This is implemented using the HTTP partial range request feature.

To specify the point from where the image download should resume, you need to set the `ota_image_bytes_written` field in `esp_https_ota_config_t`. This value indicates the number of bytes already written to the OTA partition in the previous OTA attempt.

For reference, you can check the system/ota/advanced_https_ota, which demonstrates OTA resumption. In this example, the intermediate OTA state is saved in NVS, allowing the OTA process to resume seamlessly from the last saved state and continue the download.

## Signature Verification

For additional security, signature of OTA firmware images can be verified. For more information, please refer to Secure OTA Updates Without Secure Boot.

## OTA Upgrades with Pre-Encrypted Firmware

Pre-encrypted firmware is a completely independent scheme from Flash Encryption. Primary reasons for this are as follows:

> - Flash encryption scheme recommends using per-device unique encryption key that is internally generated. This makes pre-encryption of the firmware on OTA update server infeasible.

> - Flash encryption scheme depends on the flash offset and generates different ciphertext for different flash offset. And hence it becomes difficult to manage different OTA update images based on the partition slots like `ota_0`, `ota_1` etc.

> - Even for devices where flash encryption is not enabled, it could be requirement that firmware image over OTA is still encrypted in nature.

Pre-encrypted firmware distribution ensures that the firmware image stays encrypted in transit from the server to the device (irrespective of the underlying transport security). First the pre-encrypted software layer will decrypt the firmware (received over network) on device and then re-encrypt the contents using platform flash encryption (if enabled) before writing to flash.

### Design

Pre-encrypted firmware is a transport security scheme that ensures firmware images remain encrypted in transit from the OTA server to the device (irrespective of the underlying transport security). This approach differs from Flash Encryption in several key ways:

- Key Management: Uses externally managed encryption keys rather than per-device unique keys generated internally

- Flash Offset Independence: Generates consistent ciphertext regardless of flash partition location (`ota_0`, `ota_1`, etc.)

- Transport Protection: Provides encryption protection during firmware distribution, not device-level storage security

Important Security Note: Pre-encrypted firmware does not provide device-level security on its own. Once received, the firmware is decrypted on the device and stored according to the device's flash encryption configuration. For device-level security, flash encryption must be separately enabled.

This process is managed by the esp_encrypted_img component, which integrates with the OTA update framework via the decryption callback (`esp_https_ota_config_t::decrypt_cb`).

For detailed information on the image format, key generation, and implementation details, refer to the esp_encrypted_img component documentation.

## OTA System Events

ESP HTTPS OTA has various events for which a handler can be triggered by the Event Loop Library when the particular event occurs. The handler has to be registered using `esp_event_handler_register()`. This helps the event handling for ESP HTTPS OTA.

`esp_https_ota_event_t` has all possible events that can occur when performing OTA upgrade using ESP HTTPS OTA.

### Event Handler Example

>     /* Event handler for catching system events */
>     static void event_handler(void* arg, esp_event_base_t event_base,
>                             int32_t event_id, void* event_data)
>     {
>         if (event_base == ESP_HTTPS_OTA_EVENT) {
>             switch (event_id) {
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_START:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "OTA started");
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_CONNECTED:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Connected to server");
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_GET_IMG_DESC:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Reading Image Description");
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_VERIFY_CHIP_ID:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Verifying chip id of new image: %d", *(esp_chip_id_t *)event_data);
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_VERIFY_CHIP_REVISION:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Verifying chip revision of new image: %d", *(uint16_t *)event_data);
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_DECRYPT_CB:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Callback to decrypt function");
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_WRITE_FLASH:
>                     ESP_LOGD(TAG, "Writing to flash: %d written", *(int *)event_data);
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_UPDATE_BOOT_PARTITION:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "Boot partition updated. Next Partition: %d", *(esp_partition_subtype_t *)event_data);
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_FINISH:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "OTA finish");
>                     break;
>                 case ESP_HTTPS_OTA_ABORT:
>                     ESP_LOGI(TAG, "OTA abort");
>                     break;
>             }
>         }
>     }

Expected data type for different ESP HTTPS OTA events in the system event loop:

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_START : `NULL`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_CONNECTED : `NULL`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_GET_IMG_DESC : `NULL`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_VERIFY_CHIP_ID : `esp_chip_id_t`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_VERIFY_CHIP_REVISION : `uint16_t`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_DECRYPT_CB : `NULL`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_WRITE_FLASH : `int`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_UPDATE_BOOT_PARTITION : `esp_partition_subtype_t`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_FINISH : `NULL`

> - ESP_HTTPS_OTA_ABORT : `NULL`

## Application Examples

- system/ota/advanced_https_ota demonstrates how to use the Advanced HTTPS OTA update functionality on ESP32-C5 using the esp_https_ota component's APIs. For the applicable SoCs, please refer to system/ota/advanced_https_ota/README.md.

- system/ota/partitions_ota demonstrates how to perform OTA updates for various partitions (app, bootloader, partition table, storage) using the esp_https_ota component's APIs.

- system/ota/simple_ota_example demonstrates how to use the esp_https_ota component's APIs to support firmware upgrades through specific networking interfaces such as Ethernet or Wi-Fi Station on ESP32-C5. For the applicable SoCs, please refer to system/ota/simple_ota_example/README.md.

## API Reference

### Header File

- components/esp_https_ota/include/esp_https_ota.h

- This header file can be included with:

  >     #include "esp_https_ota.h"

- This header file is a part of the API provided by the `esp_https_ota` component. To declare that your component depends on `esp_https_ota`, add the following to your CMakeLists.txt:

  >     REQUIRES esp_https_ota

  > or

  >     PRIV_REQUIRES esp_https_ota

### Functions

esp_err_t esp_https_ota(const esp_https_ota_config_t *ota_config)

  HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade.

  This function allocates HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade context, establishes HTTPS connection, reads image data from HTTP stream and writes it to OTA partition and finishes HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade operation. This API supports URL redirection, but if CA cert of URLs differ then it should be appended to `cert_pem` member of `ota_config->http_config`.

  Note

  This API handles the entire OTA operation, so if this API is being used then no other APIs from `esp_https_ota` component should be called. If more information and control is needed during the HTTPS OTA process, then one can use `esp_https_ota_begin` and subsequent APIs. If this API returns successfully, esp_restart() must be called to boot from the new firmware image.

  Parameters:

    ota_config -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_config_t structure.

  Returns:

    - ESP_OK: OTA data updated, next reboot will use specified partition.

    - ESP_FAIL: For generic failure.

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid argument

    - ESP_ERR_OTA_VALIDATE_FAILED: Invalid app image

    - ESP_ERR_NO_MEM: Cannot allocate memory for OTA operation.

    - ESP_ERR_FLASH_OP_TIMEOUT or ESP_ERR_FLASH_OP_FAIL: Flash write failed.

    - ESP_ERR_HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED: OTA image is not modified on server side

    - For other return codes, refer OTA documentation in esp-idf's app_update component.

esp_err_t esp_https_ota_begin(const esp_https_ota_config_t *ota_config, esp_https_ota_handle_t *handle)

  Start HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade.

  This function initializes ESP HTTPS OTA context and establishes HTTPS connection. This function must be invoked first. If this function returns successfully, then `esp_https_ota_perform` should be called to continue with the OTA process and there should be a call to `esp_https_ota_finish` on completion of OTA operation or on failure in subsequent operations. This API supports URL redirection, but if CA cert of URLs differ then it should be appended to `cert_pem` member of `http_config`, which is a part of `ota_config`. In case of error, this API explicitly sets `handle` to NULL.

  Note

  This API is blocking, so setting `is_async` member of `http_config` structure will result in an error.

  Parameters:

    - ota_config -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_config_t structure

    - handle -- [out] pointer to an allocated data of type `esp_https_ota_handle_t` which will be initialised in this function

  Returns:

    - ESP_OK: HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade context initialised and HTTPS connection established

    - ESP_FAIL: For generic failure.

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid argument (missing/incorrect config, certificate, etc.)

    - ESP_ERR_HTTP_NOT_MODIFIED: OTA image is not modified on server side

    - For other return codes, refer documentation in app_update component and esp_http_client component in esp-idf.

esp_err_t esp_https_ota_perform(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  Read image data from HTTP stream and write it to OTA partition.

  This function reads image data from HTTP stream and writes it to OTA partition. This function must be called only if esp_https_ota_begin() returns successfully. This function must be called in a loop since it returns after every HTTP read operation thus giving you the flexibility to stop OTA operation midway.

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - ESP_ERR_HTTPS_OTA_IN_PROGRESS: OTA update is in progress, call this API again to continue.

    - ESP_OK: OTA update was successful

    - ESP_FAIL: OTA update failed

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid argument

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_VERSION: Invalid chip revision in image header

    - ESP_ERR_OTA_VALIDATE_FAILED: Invalid app image

    - ESP_ERR_NO_MEM: Cannot allocate memory for OTA operation.

    - ESP_ERR_FLASH_OP_TIMEOUT or ESP_ERR_FLASH_OP_FAIL: Flash write failed.

    - For other return codes, refer OTA documentation in esp-idf's app_update component.

bool esp_https_ota_is_complete_data_received(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  Checks if complete data was received or not.

  Note

  This API can be called just before esp_https_ota_finish() to validate if the complete image was indeed received.

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - false

    - true

esp_err_t esp_https_ota_finish(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  Clean-up HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade and close HTTPS connection.

  This function closes the HTTP connection and frees the ESP HTTPS OTA context. This function switches the boot partition to the OTA partition containing the new firmware image.

  Note

  If this API returns successfully, esp_restart() must be called to boot from the new firmware image esp_https_ota_finish should not be called after calling esp_https_ota_abort

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - ESP_OK: Clean-up successful

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid argument

    - ESP_ERR_OTA_VALIDATE_FAILED: Invalid app image

esp_err_t esp_https_ota_abort(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  Clean-up HTTPS OTA Firmware upgrade and close HTTPS connection.

  This function closes the HTTP connection and frees the ESP HTTPS OTA context.

  Note

  esp_https_ota_abort should not be called after calling esp_https_ota_finish

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - ESP_OK: Clean-up successful

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE: Invalid ESP HTTPS OTA state

    - ESP_FAIL: OTA not started

    - ESP_ERR_NOT_FOUND: OTA handle not found

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid argument

esp_err_t esp_https_ota_get_img_desc(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle, esp_app_desc_t *new_app_info)

  Reads app description from image header. The app description provides information like the "Firmware version" of the image.

  Note

  This API can be called only after esp_https_ota_begin() and before esp_https_ota_perform(). Calling this API is not mandatory.

  Parameters:

    - https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

    - new_app_info -- [out] pointer to an allocated esp_app_desc_t structure

  Returns:

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid arguments

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE: Invalid state to call this API. esp_https_ota_begin() not called yet.

    - ESP_FAIL: Failed to read image descriptor

    - ESP_OK: Successfully read image descriptor

esp_err_t esp_https_ota_get_bootloader_img_desc(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle, esp_bootloader_desc_t *new_img_info)

  Reads bootloader description from image header. The bootloader description provides information like the "Bootloader version" of the image.

  Note

  This API can be called only after esp_https_ota_begin() and before esp_https_ota_perform(). Calling this API is not mandatory.

  Parameters:

    - https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

    - new_img_info -- [out] pointer to an allocated esp_bootloader_desc_t structure

  Returns:

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_ARG: Invalid arguments

    - ESP_ERR_INVALID_STATE: Invalid state to call this API. esp_https_ota_begin() not called yet.

    - ESP_FAIL: Failed to read image descriptor

    - ESP_OK: Successfully read image descriptor

int esp_https_ota_get_image_len_read(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  This function returns OTA image data read so far.

  Note

  This API should be called only if `esp_https_ota_perform()` has been called at least once or if `esp_https_ota_get_img_desc` has been called before.

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - -1 On failure

    - total bytes read so far

int esp_https_ota_get_status_code(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  This function returns the HTTP status code of the last HTTP response.

  Note

  This API should be called only after esp_https_ota_begin() has been called. This can be used to check the HTTP status code of the OTA download process.

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - -1 On failure

    - HTTP status code

int esp_https_ota_get_image_size(esp_https_ota_handle_t https_ota_handle)

  This function returns OTA image total size.

  Note

  This API should be called after esp_https_ota_begin() has been already called. This can be used to create some sort of progress indication (in combination with esp_https_ota_get_image_len_read())

  Parameters:

    https_ota_handle -- [in] pointer to esp_https_ota_handle_t structure

  Returns:

    - -1 On failure or chunked encoding

    - total bytes of image

### Structures

struct decrypt_cb_arg_t

  ESP HTTPS OTA decrypt callback args.

  Public Members

  const char *data_in

    Pointer to data to be decrypted

  size_t data_in_len

    Input data length

  char *data_out

    Pointer to data decrypted using callback, this will be freed after data is written to flash

  size_t data_out_len

    Output data length

struct esp_https_ota_config_t

  ESP HTTPS OTA configuration.

  Public Members

  const esp_http_client_config_t *http_config

    ESP HTTP client configuration

  http_client_init_cb_t http_client_init_cb

    Callback after ESP HTTP client is initialised

  bool bulk_flash_erase

    Erase entire flash partition during initialization. By default flash partition is erased during write operation and in chunk of 4K sector size

  bool partial_http_download

    Enable Firmware image to be downloaded over multiple HTTP requests

  int max_http_request_size

    Maximum request size for partial HTTP download

  uint32_t buffer_caps

    The memory capability to use when allocating the buffer for OTA update. Default capability is MALLOC_CAP_DEFAULT

  bool ota_resumption

    Enable resumption in downloading of OTA image between reboots

  size_t ota_image_bytes_written

    Number of OTA image bytes written to flash so far, updated by the application when OTA data is written successfully in the target OTA partition.

  decrypt_cb_t decrypt_cb

    Callback for external decryption layer

  void *decrypt_user_ctx

    User context for external decryption layer

  uint16_t enc_img_header_size

    Header size of pre-encrypted ota image header

  const esp_partition_t *staging

    < Details of staging and final partitions for OTA update New image will be downloaded in this staging partition. If NULL then a free app partition (passive app partition) is selected as the staging partition.

  const esp_partition_t *final

    Final destination partition. Its type/subtype will be used for verification. If set to NULL, staging partition shall be set as the final partition.

  bool finalize_with_copy

    Flag to copy the staging image to the final partition at the end of OTA update

  struct esp_https_ota_config_t partition

    Struct containing details about the staging and final partitions for OTA update.

### Macros

ESP_ERR_HTTPS_OTA_BASE

ESP_ERR_HTTPS_OTA_IN_PROGRESS

### Type Definitions

typedef void *esp_https_ota_handle_t

typedef esp_err_t (*http_client_init_cb_t)(esp_http_client_handle_t)

typedef esp_err_t (*decrypt_cb_t)(decrypt_cb_arg_t *args, void *user_ctx)

### Enumerations

enum esp_https_ota_event_t

  Events generated by OTA process.

  Values:

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_START

    OTA started

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_CONNECTED

    Connected to server

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_GET_IMG_DESC

    Read app/bootloader description from image header

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_VERIFY_CHIP_ID

    Verify chip id of new image

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_VERIFY_CHIP_REVISION

    Verify chip revision of new image

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_DECRYPT_CB

    Callback to decrypt function

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_WRITE_FLASH

    Flash write operation

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_UPDATE_BOOT_PARTITION

    Boot partition update after successful ota update

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_FINISH

    OTA finished

  enumerator ESP_HTTPS_OTA_ABORT

    OTA aborted

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