A generalized model for preventing information leakage in hard real-time systems

Pellizzoni, Rodolfo; Paryab, Neda; Yoon, Man-Ki; Bak, Stanley; Mohan, Sibin; Bobba, Rakesh B.

doi:10.1109/rtas.2015.7108450

Cited by 43 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 22 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The task sets are grouped by CPU utilization from [0.001+0.1·x, 0.1+0.1·x] where 0 ≤ x ≤ 9. Each utilization group consists of 6 subgroups that have a fixed number of tasks (5,7,9,11,13,15). Each subgroup contains 100 task sets.…”

Section: Performance Evaluation and Design Space Exploration A mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Side-Channel in Real-Time Schedulers

Chen

Mohan

Pellizzoni

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium (RTAS)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We demonstrate the presence of a novel scheduler side-channel in preemptive, fixed-priority real-time systems (RTS); examples of such systems can be found in automotive systems, avionic systems, power plants and industrial control systems among others. This side-channel can leak important timing information such as the future arrival times of realtime tasks. This information can then be used to launch devastating attacks, two of which are demonstrated here (on real hardware platforms). Note that it is not easy to capture this timing information due to runtime variations in the schedules, the presence of multiple other tasks in the system and the typical constraints (e.g., deadlines) in the design of RTS. Our ScheduLeak algorithms demonstrate how to effectively exploit this side-channel. A complete implementation is presented on real operating systems (in Real-time Linux and FreeRTOS). Timing information leaked by ScheduLeak can significantly aid other, more advanced, attacks in better accomplishing their goals.

show abstract

Section: Performance Evaluation and Design Space Exploration A mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Side-Channel in Real-Time Schedulers

Chen

Mohan

Pellizzoni

et al. 2019

2019 IEEE Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium (RTAS)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The authors introduced a modification to the fixedpriority scheduling algorithm and a state cleanup mechanism to mitigate information leakage through shared resources. This work was further extended to a more generalized task model [17]. Nonetheless, such countermeasures may not be completely effective against timing inference attacks that focus on the deterministic scheduling behaviors.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

TaskShuffler: A Schedule Randomization Protocol for Obfuscation against Timing Inference Attacks in Real-Time Systems

Yoon

Mohan

Chen

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE Real-Time and Embedded Technology and Applications Symposium (RTAS)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The high degree of predictability in real-time systems makes it possible for adversaries to launch timing inference attacks such as those based on side-channels and covert-channels. We present TaskShuffler, a schedule obfuscation method aimed at randomizing the schedule for such systems while still providing the real-time guarantees that are necessary for their safe operation. This paper also analyzes the effect of these mechanisms by presenting schedule entropy -a metric to measure the uncertainty (as perceived by attackers) introduced by TaskShuffler. These mechanisms will increase the difficulty for would-be attackers thus improving the overall security guarantees for real-time systems.

show abstract

“…Despite the fact that malware developers and sophisticated adversaries are able to overcome air-gaps, most RTS were considered to be invulnerable against software security breaches; and until recently security issues in RTS were not extensively discussed in industry or academia. The issues regarding information leakage through storage timing channels using architectural resources (e.g., caches) shared between real-time tasks with different security levels is considered in the work [8], [9]. The authors proposed a modification to the fixedpriority scheduling algorithm and introduced a state cleanup mechanism to mitigate information leakage through shared resources.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Opportunistic Execution for Integrating Security into Legacy Hard Real-Time Systems

Hasan

Mohan²,

Bobba

et al. 2016

2016 IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium (RTSS)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Due to physical isolation as well as use of proprietary hardware and protocols, traditional real-time systems (RTS) were considered to be invulnerable to security breaches and external attacks. However, this assumption is being challenged by recent attacks that highlight the vulnerabilities in such systems. In this paper, we focus on integrating security mechanisms into RTS (especially legacy RTS) and provide a metric to measure the effectiveness of such mechanisms. We combine opportunistic execution with hierarchical scheduling to maintain compatibility with legacy systems while still providing flexibility. The proposed approach is shown to increase the security posture of RTS systems without impacting their temporal constraints.

show abstract

A generalized model for preventing information leakage in hard real-time systems

Cited by 43 publications

References 22 publications

A Novel Side-Channel in Real-Time Schedulers

A Novel Side-Channel in Real-Time Schedulers

TaskShuffler: A Schedule Randomization Protocol for Obfuscation against Timing Inference Attacks in Real-Time Systems

Exploring Opportunistic Execution for Integrating Security into Legacy Hard Real-Time Systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About