Mobile Threat Catalogue

Firmware Component Substitution During Transfer

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Threat Category: Supply Chain

ID: SPC-8

Threat Description: An adversary with access to supplier shipping channels during transfer of system components can substitute a counterfeit firmware component for an authentic component.1

Threat Origin

Supply Chain Attack Framework and Attack Patterns 1

Exploit Examples

Not Applicable

CVE Examples

Not Applicable

Possible Countermeasures

Enterprise

Require firmware to be digitally signed by a trusted developer and the signature verified prior to the component being integrated into a larger system

Employ software integrity verification checks on installed firmware, which can be validated against a known-good value (e.g. brute-force resistant cryptographic hash of firmware image) to detect any modification to firmware

Obtain device measurements for comparison to normal ranges (e.g., temperature, timing, EM radiation, power consumption) to detect anomalous behavior.

References

  1. J.F. Miller, “Supply Chain Attack Framework and Attack Patterns”, tech. report, MITRE, Dec. 2013; www.mitre.org/sites/default/files/publications/supply-chain-attack-framework-14-0228.pdf  2