0000000000453967

AUTHOR

Aurélien Francillon

Finding Software Bugs in Embedded Devices

AbstractThe goal of this chapter is to introduce the reader to the domain of bug discovery in embedded systems which are at the core of the Internet of Things. Embedded software has a number of particularities which makes it slightly different to general purpose software. In particular, embedded devices are more exposed to software attacks but have lower defense levels and are often left unattended. At the same time, analyzing their security is more difficult because they are very “opaque”, while the execution of custom and embedded software is often entangled with the hardware and peripherals. These differences have an impact on our ability to find software bugs in such systems. This chapt…

research product

Towards Automated Classification of Firmware Images and Identification of Embedded Devices

Part 4: Operating System and Firmware Security; International audience; Embedded systems, as opposed to traditional computers, bring an incredible diversity. The number of devices manufactured is constantly increasing and each has a dedicated software, commonly known as firmware. Full firmware images are often delivered as multiple releases, correcting bugs and vulnerabilities, or adding new features. Unfortunately, there is no centralized or standardized firmware distribution mechanism. It is therefore difficult to track which vendor or device a firmware package belongs to, or to identify which firmware version is used in deployed embedded devices. At the same time, discovering devices tha…

research product