Tobias Scharnowski and Felix Buchmann (Ruhr-Universitat Bochum), Simon Woerner and Thorsten Holz (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security)

Presenter: Tobias Scharnowski

Satellites perform critical functions of our modern digital infrastructure, such as providing communications, navigation, and earth observation services. Maintaining a satellite requires remote access, so securing that access is an essential aspect of developing and operating a satellite. While satellites have traditionally not been subjected to regular attacks, this might not hold in the future. Hence, securing satellite firmware—the software that controls the space segment of satellite missions— becomes increasingly relevant.

In this work, we perform a case study of applying recent embedded firmware analysis techniques to satellite payload data handling systems. We explore whether FUZZWARE, a state-of-the-art firmware fuzz testing system, can be used to these firmware images. During this case study, we also describe and apply the process of manually optimizing FUZZWARE configurations for firmware targets, and measure the impact of different optimizations. Finally, we identify challenging aspects of fuzz testing satellite firmware and directions for future work to optimize fuzz testing performance in a fully automated manner. As part of our case study, we identified and responsibly disclosed 6 bugs in 3 satellite firmware images.

View More Papers

DOITRUST: Dissecting On-chain Compromised Internet Domains via Graph Learning

Shuo Wang (CSIRO's Data61 & Cybersecurity CRC, Australia), Mahathir Almashor (CSIRO's Data61 & Cybersecurity CRC, Australia), Alsharif Abuadbba (CSIRO's Data61 & Cybersecurity CRC, Australia), Ruoxi Sun (CSIRO's Data61), Minhui Xue (CSIRO's Data61), Calvin Wang (CSIRO's Data61), Raj Gaire (CSIRO's Data61 & Cybersecurity CRC, Australia), Surya Nepal (CSIRO's Data61 & Cybersecurity CRC, Australia), Seyit Camtepe (CSIRO's…

Read More

Do Privacy Labels Answer Users' Privacy Questions?

Shikun Zhang, Norman Sadeh (Carnegie Mellon University)

Read More

Navigating Murky Waters: Automated Browser Feature Testing for Uncovering...

Mir Masood Ali (University of Illinois Chicago), Binoy Chitale (Stony Brook University), Mohammad Ghasemisharif (University of Illinois Chicago), Chris Kanich (University of Illinois Chicago), Nick Nikiforakis (Stony Brook University), Jason Polakis (University of Illinois Chicago)

Read More