Automotive Security

Challenge

Modern vehicles are rolling software ecosystems. They are now more reliant on firmware running on microcontrollers instead of pure hardware like in the past. Cars can now contain over 70 electronic control units (ECUs), each of them having their own dedicated firmware. ECUs can be responsible for the engine, driving control, infotainment, navigation, and tracking systems - some of which may be connected to a cellular network. All this code has potential bugs, vulnerabilities, or hidden/unwanted functionality. So the notion of a "Smart Car" is a nice idea, but to some individuals "Smart" just means "Hackable". The automotive industry must have visibility over the software that drives its vehicles (literally), despite its growing complexity. Overlooked flaws can have severe consequences.

Approach

IDA can serve as an entry point into a modern vehicle's logical infrastructure. In many cases the original ECU firmware can be reverse-engineered, for example to determine how sensors are being read or how the engine is controlled. IDA is the best tool for this task since it supports all the major processor families used in ECUs. IDA makes it possible to build a gradual understanding of the firmware behavior even without complete documentation, source code, or debug symbols.

IDA is frequently used for auditing vehicle firmware. Such investigations can produce very interesting results:

Researchers used IDA to confirm Volkswagen's cheating in emission control tests (a.k.a "Dieselgate")

There is a big demand in the gray or black market for bypassing security measures employed by car manufacturers to prevent non-authorized modifications to the vehicle firmware.

IDA can be used to analyze the security mechanisms employed by the firmware and discover ways to bypass them before it is done by malicious outside parties:

Criminals find the key to car immobilisers

There is a non-negligible demand for after-market car modifications.

For example, customers may want to improve engine performance or add manual controls in certain driving situations. This can be done either by modifying the standard manufacturer's ECU firmware or by adding a completely custom ECU:

Reverse engineering a SuperH based ECU with IDA to find calibration tables

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Automotive Security

Challenge

Approach

IDA is frequently used for auditing vehicle firmware. Such investigations can produce very interesting results:

There is a big demand in the gray or black market for bypassing security measures employed by car manufacturers to prevent non-authorized modifications to the vehicle firmware.

There is a non-negligible demand for after-market car modifications.

Get started with the IDA version that fits your needs

Still have questions?

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