Patchlings: Enabling A/B-Equivalent OTA Updates for Deeply Embedded...
summary
Patchlings preserves the original firmware untouched, instruments function entry points with static trampolines, and redirects bounded control flow into a dedicated patch region written to flash. Claims include A/B-equivalent power-fail safety via dual-sector atomic activation of authenticated redirect tables, update delivery over CAN/UDS, and no full-image rewrite. Prototype on an NXP S32K prototype with FreeRTOS/Zephyr shows 6–8% flash overhead versus full dual‑bank and passes power‑fail tests that always recover to a valid image.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (14)
- 0:00Patch links for embedded ECUs
- 1:05Traditional flash update challenges
- 2:39Dual-bank AB flash limits
- 3:00Patch Links preserves firmware
- 4:47Patch Links threat model
- 6:54Patch package structure
- 7:57Power-fail safety with redirect tables
- 9:02Efficient flash management
- 10:25Prototype results
- 11:50Robustness testing
- 12:10Beyond security fixes
- 13:36Patch Links limitations
- 14:19Patch Links in practice
- 15:20Multi-ECU updates advantages
related talks
39mImplementing Power-Safe Atomic Over the Air Updates
09mLightning Talk: Delta Firmware Over The Air (DFOTA) Update: Optim...
43mOTA Updates in the Wild: Lessons from the Field
41mLivepatch in Userspace Based on Uprobe
41mCase Study: Switching from Asymmetric to Symmetric Software Updates
42mImplementing UEFI-based Secure Boot + OTA Update for Embedded ARM De...
55mBoF: Embedded Update Tools
19mCrypto Agility by Design: Securing PQC with Updatable HW/FW Co-design