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They're a security risk, like any software that forms an attack surface. But they're not that opaque, for most devices. The firmware binaries are typically free
by topor 4y ago
They're a security risk, like any software that forms an attack surface. But they're not that opaque, for most devices. The firmware binaries are typically freely downloadable, or can be copied from the device with a little effort, and then loaded into Ghidra, IDA, etc. for static analysis. For some platforms, there are even baseband emulation frameworks (e.g. FirmWire) available for dynamic analysis.
- T3OU-736 4y agoWhat isn't obvious, but feels like it should be, is the rationale behind these Phenomenal Cosmic Powers of the baseband (with the attendant itty bitty living space). As an example, why does baseband need be able to modify OS RAM (assuming that it can do that). Is that a consequence of some sort of DMA for speed, or something else?
- Avamander 4y agoLast I saw, QualComm's firmware was very tedious to even view, not to mention analyze. Being downloadable doesn't make them significantly more transparent.