Embedded Device Exploitation 101: An Introduction to Firmware Hacking
summary
Covers hands‑on firmware hacking: dumping firmware via debug probe (example JLink), static analysis with Ghidra, and dynamic debugging on Cortex‑M targets. Demonstrates two exploit chains: a basic stack buffer overflow that runs shellcode from the stack and a realistic variant using Return-Oriented Programming to chain existing gadgets. Explains finding bugs with fuzzing and reverse engineering, shows an integer‑wrap example enabling huge copies, and evaluates defenses such as stack canaries, XN/MPU enforcement, ASLR-like diversity and limitations of CFI on deeply embedded systems.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction to embedded
- 2:02Dumping and analysis
- 4:23Bug discovery strategies
- 7:23Common vulnerabilities
- 13:14Analyzing stacks
- 17:36Exploiting stack overflows
- 24:53Defenses and mitigations
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