A survey on IoT & embedded device firmware security: architecture, extraction techniques, and vulnerability analysis frameworks

Abstract

IoT and Embedded devices grow at an exponential rate, however, without adequate security mechanisms in place. One of the key challenges in the cyber world is the security of these devices. One of the main reasons that these devices are active targets for large-scale cyber-attacks is a lack of security standards and thorough testing by manufacturers. Manufacturer-specific operating systems or firmware of various architectures and characteristics are typically included with these devices. However, due to a lack of security testing and/or late patching, the underlying firmware or operating systems are vulnerable to numerous types of vulnerabilities. Reverse engineering and in-depth research of the firmware is required to detect the vulnerabilities. In this paper, we've delved into various aspects of IoT and embedded devices. This includes a comprehensive survey on the architecture of firmware, techniques for firmware extraction, and state-of-the-art vulnerability analysis frameworks for the detection of vulnerabilities using various approaches like static, dynamic, and hybrid approaches. Furthermore, we’ve scrutinized the challenges of existing vulnerability analysis frameworks and proposed a novel framework to address these issues.