A method comprises maintaining, for at least one remote device, a security footprint and a verified version of a software stack for the remote device, generating an attestation initiation token that includes a nonce to be used to generate an XMSS signature for attestation of the remote device, sending the attestation initiation token to the remote device, receiving, from the remote device, a modified message representative including a hash of a current version of a software stack for the remote device and an indicator of a version number of the current version of the software stack for the remote device, validating the hash, and in response to a determination that the hash is valid, generating an XMSS signature using the security footprint and the current version of a software stack for the remote device and a security footprint for the apparatus.