Techniques for execution of commands securely within a storage device are disclosed. Integrity of a command interpreter is verified before allowing it to execute commands within the storage device. The integrity of the commands can also be checked to safeguard against various threats including, for example, malicious attacks, unintentional errors and defects that can adversely affect stored content and execution. Error recovery techniques can be used to reconstruct the command interpreter and/or commands that are found to be defective. In addition, secure techniques can be used to obtain trusted versions of the command interpreter and/or commands from an authenticated external source.