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I would assume that Apple's new firmware would have been written in a memory safe language. They did make some noise about enabling Swift for embedded developm

I would assume that Apple's new firmware would have been written in a memory safe language. They did make some noise about enabling Swift for embedded development at last years WWDC. Although Qualcomm's big zero day last year was related to the DSP and not the baseband, I believe.

FirmwareBurner 2y ago
>I would assume that Apple's new firmware would have been written in a memory safe language. Memory safe languages don't protect from human programmer complacency and stupidity, or from incidental alphabet agency backdoors.
- GeekyBear 2y ago
  The patch notes for Qualcomm's big zero day exploit last year certainly gives the impression that this was yet another example of a memory safety error. > According to the patch instructions, the fix works by adding direct memory access handle references. https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/366612994/High-severity-Qualcomm-zero-day-vulnerability-under-attack https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/366612994/Hig...
- DrBenCarson 2y ago
  Sure, but they do protect from a massive swath of real attacks Don’t guarantee complete safety but do eliminate a massive attack surface
iknowstuff 2y ago
Here’s hoping. Bets on Swift v Rust? I swear if they wrote a modem from scratch in C that’s a major own goal
- DrBenCarson 2y ago
  Definitely Swift https://swift.org/blog/embedded-swift-examples/ https://swift.org/blog/embedded-swift-examples/
- scrlk 2y ago
  There's a number of firmware jobs on their website at the moment. All of them ask for C or C++ experience - I haven't seen anything that's asking for Rust or Embedded Swift experience. E.g.: https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200579953/embedded-5g-4g-cellular-rf-sw-fw-engineer?team=HRDWR https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200579953/embedded-5g-4...
  - walterbell 2y ago
    Was the modem codebase inherited from Intel?
    - scrlk 2y ago
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-16/apple-project-to-replace-modems-made-by-qualcomm-falls-further-behind-to-2026 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-16/apple-pro... (https://archive.ph/A2UUI https://archive.ph/A2UUI) > One major development snag involves the software used to power the modem, some of which was acquired from Intel. The Intel code wasn’t up to the task, and most of it had to be rewritten from scratch, people involved in the project said. As Apple engineers sought to add new features, existing capabilities would break, and the modem wouldn’t work properly.
      - walterbell 2y ago
        Let the Apple C++ vs Qualcomm C++ zero day defense games begin!
saagarjha 2y ago
It’s C(++) judging by the strings in the firmware
- internet2000 2y ago
  Is the firmware available somewhere already?
  - saagarjha 2y ago
    Yes it’s on the update channels

FirmwareBurner 2y ago

>I would assume that Apple's new firmware would have been written in a memory safe language. Memory safe languages don't protect from human programmer complacency and stupidity, or from incidental alphabet agency backdoors.

GeekyBear 2y ago
The patch notes for Qualcomm's big zero day exploit last year certainly gives the impression that this was yet another example of a memory safety error. > According to the patch instructions, the fix works by adding direct memory access handle references. https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/366612994/High-severity-Qualcomm-zero-day-vulnerability-under-attack https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/news/366612994/Hig...
DrBenCarson 2y ago
Sure, but they do protect from a massive swath of real attacks Don’t guarantee complete safety but do eliminate a massive attack surface

iknowstuff 2y ago

Here’s hoping. Bets on Swift v Rust? I swear if they wrote a modem from scratch in C that’s a major own goal

DrBenCarson 2y ago
Definitely Swift https://swift.org/blog/embedded-swift-examples/ https://swift.org/blog/embedded-swift-examples/
scrlk 2y ago
There's a number of firmware jobs on their website at the moment. All of them ask for C or C++ experience - I haven't seen anything that's asking for Rust or Embedded Swift experience. E.g.: https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200579953/embedded-5g-4g-cellular-rf-sw-fw-engineer?team=HRDWR https://jobs.apple.com/en-us/details/200579953/embedded-5g-4...
- walterbell 2y ago
  Was the modem codebase inherited from Intel?
  - scrlk 2y ago
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-16/apple-project-to-replace-modems-made-by-qualcomm-falls-further-behind-to-2026 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-16/apple-pro... (https://archive.ph/A2UUI https://archive.ph/A2UUI) > One major development snag involves the software used to power the modem, some of which was acquired from Intel. The Intel code wasn’t up to the task, and most of it had to be rewritten from scratch, people involved in the project said. As Apple engineers sought to add new features, existing capabilities would break, and the modem wouldn’t work properly.
    - walterbell 2y ago
      Let the Apple C++ vs Qualcomm C++ zero day defense games begin!

saagarjha 2y ago

It’s C(++) judging by the strings in the firmware

internet2000 2y ago
Is the firmware available somewhere already?
- saagarjha 2y ago
  Yes it’s on the update channels