# Emulated Trusted Platform Module (vTPM)

Added in version 22.0.0: (Victoria)

Starting in the 22.0.0 (Victoria) release, Nova supports adding an emulated virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) to guests.

Added in version 33.0.0: (2026.1 Gazpacho)

Starting in the 33.0.0 (2026.1 Gazpacho) release, Nova supports live migration of guests with emulated vTPM for the `host` TPM secret security mode.

## Enabling vTPM

The following are required on each compute host wishing to support the vTPM feature:

- Currently vTPM is only supported when using the libvirt compute driver with a `libvirt.virt_type` of `kvm` or `qemu`.

- A key manager service, such as barbican, must be configured to store secrets used to encrypt the virtual device files at rest.

- The swtpm binary and associated libraries.

- Set the `libvirt.swtpm_enabled` config option to `True`. This will enable support for both TPM version 1.2 and 2.0.

- Optionally set the `libvirt.supported_tpm_secret_security` config option to configure which security modes to enable. The default is all modes enabled: `user` and `host`. See the next section for more details about TPM secret security modes.

With the above requirements satisfied, verify vTPM support by inspecting the traits on the compute node’s resource provider:

    $ COMPUTE_UUID=$(openstack resource provider list --name $HOST -f value -c uuid)
    $ openstack resource provider trait list $COMPUTE_UUID | grep SECURITY_TPM
    | COMPUTE_SECURITY_TPM_1_2                        |
    | COMPUTE_SECURITY_TPM_2_0                        |
    | COMPUTE_SECURITY_TPM_CRB                        |
    | COMPUTE_SECURITY_TPM_TIS                        |
    | COMPUTE_SECURITY_TPM_SECRET_SECURITY_USER       |
    | COMPUTE_SECURITY_TPM_SECRET_SECURITY_HOST       |

## Security

With a hardware TPM, the root of trust is a secret known only to the TPM user. In contrast, an emulated TPM comprises a file on disk which the libvirt daemon must be able to present to the guest.

At rest, this file is encrypted using a passphrase stored in a key manager service as a secret.

Nova supports a few different security modes that will control secret ownership and visibility to the libvirt API. The passphrase is retrieved and used by libvirt to unlock the emulated TPM data any time the server is booted.

Mode | Description
--- | ---
`user` | The passphrase in the key manager is associated with the credentials of the owner of the server (the user who initially created it). The libvirt secret is both `private` and `ephemeral`. A server with this security mode cannot be live migrated. This is the default mode. Existing servers that were created before 33.0.0 (2026.1 Gazpacho) will also have this mode.

`host`

The passphrase in the key manager is associated with the credentials of the owner of the server (the user who initially created it). The libvirt secret is not `private` and not `ephemeral`, which means it can be retrieved via the libvirt API or `virsh` and it exists on disk. A server with this security mode can be live migrated, including by users other than the owner of the server, such as admin, if API policy allows. To transport the TPM secret to the destination host during a live migration, the libvirt secret is sent over RPC.

Although the above `user` mechanism uses a libvirt secret that is both `private` (can’t be displayed via the libvirt API or `virsh`) and `ephemeral` (exists only in memory, never on disk), it is theoretically possible for a sufficiently privileged user to retrieve the secret and/or vTPM data from memory.

A full analysis and discussion of security issues related to emulated TPM is beyond the scope of this document.

## Configuring a flavor or image

A vTPM can be requested on a server via flavor extra specs or image metadata properties. There are two versions supported - 1.2 and 2.0 - and two models - TPM Interface Specification (TIS) and Command-Response Buffer (CRB). The CRB model is only supported with version 2.0.

Flavor extra_specs | Image metadata | Description
--- | --- | ---
`hw:tpm_version` | `hw_tpm_version` | Specify the TPM version, `1.2` or `2.0`. Required if requesting a vTPM.
`hw:tpm_model` | `hw_tpm_model` | Specify the TPM model, `tpm-tis` (the default) or `tpm-crb` (only valid with version `2.0`.
`hw:tpm_secret_security` | - | Specify the TPM secret security mode, `user` (the default) or `host`.

For example, to configure a flavor to use the TPM 2.0 with the CRB model:

    $ openstack flavor set $FLAVOR \
        --property hw:tpm_version=2.0 \
        --property hw:tpm_model=tpm-crb

Scheduling will fail if flavor and image supply conflicting values, or if model `tpm-crb` is requested with version `1.2`.

Upon successful boot, the server should see a TPM device such as `/dev/tpm0` which can be used in the same manner as a hardware TPM.

## Legacy servers and live migration

A legacy server can be converted to a TPM secret security mode capable of live migration via a resize to a flavor that has the `hw:tpm_secret_security` extra spec set to `host`.

For example:

    $ openstack flavor set $FLAVOR \
        --property hw:tpm_version=2.0 \
        --property hw:tpm_model=tpm-crb \
        --property hw:tpm_secret_security=host

    $ openstack server resize --flavor $FLAVOR $SERVER

    $ openstack server resize confirm $SERVER

## Limitations

- Rebuild, evacuate, shelve, and rescue of servers with vTPMs is not currently supported.

- Other limitations will depend on the TPM secret security mode of the server.

Mode | Description
--- | ---
`user` | Only server operations performed by the server owner are supported, as the user’s credentials are required to unlock the virtual device files on the host in this mode. Thus the admin may need to decide whether to grant the user additional policy roles or key manager service ACLs; if not, those operations are effectively disabled. Live migration is not supported in this mode.
`host` | Certain server operations performed by users other than the server owner are supported. Hard reboot, start from stopped, and live migration are supported if API policy allows, without need of key manager service ACLs. This is because nova-compute can read the locally stored Libvirt secret from the server’s compute host in this mode and the server owner’s credentials are not required.

## References

- TCG PC Client Specific TPM Interface Specification (TIS)

- TCG PC Client Platform TPM Profile (PTP) Specification

- QEMU docs on tpm

- Libvirt XML to request emulated TPM device

- Libvirt secret for usage type ``vtpm``

this page last updated: 2026-04-21 19:00:00

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