Firmware Security Analysis

Firmware is a piece of software binary embedded in devices, such as IoT. The devices are potentially subject to physical attacks, targeting the cryptography algorithms or security sensitive operations. It is therefore necessary to analyze the corresponding risks and assess whether the security protections are strong enough to withstand attacks. This may turn out to be a complex task since physical attacks implies hardware equipment testing the device. And particularly for organizations keen to implement efficient software development practices.

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An analysis framework

esFirmware’s framework offers the opportunity to analyze in depth a firmware against physical attacks. Designed for developers or security evaluators, esFirmware leverages an emulation engine and interferes into the runtime execution for simulating observations or disruptions close to the physical reality.

The framework already supports many types of binary compiled for multiple architectures such as ARM (arm32, arm64), Intel (x86) or Risc-V. It is possible to emulate complex SoC devices, at least partially, to extend the analysis capabilities.

esFirmware leverages esDynamic platform

Firmware analysis may be complex and requires different expertises. This explains why esFirmware leverages esDynamic, a data science platform designed for collaboration and expertise work. The emulation engine is fully integrated into the framework. It is then possible to set the computing capabilities in line with the needs, since emulation quickly requires the handling of big dataset. With the unique collaboration feature, multiple experts can effectively work together on the same framework.

esFirmware provides know-how material for physical observation or fault injection

Physical observation, or code lifting, gives an overview of the internal execution variable over the execution. A special care was taken to filter the information and avoid any overwhelming data to process. The material elaborates use cases targeting whitebox cryptography.

Physical fault injection provides the ability to fault a firmware code during its execution. This simulates faults using glitch, laser or near field electromagnetic attacks. Automation leads to set up intensive test campaigns covering large ranges of fault parameters. The expertise material helps to identify the weak points and to point out where security protections should be implemented.