Uptane: Securing Software Updates for Automobiles∗ Trishank Karthik Akan Brown Sebastien Awwad Kuppusamy NYU Tandon School of NYU Tandon School of NYU Tandon School of Engineering Engineering Engineering
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Damon McCoy Russ Bielawski Cameron Mott NYU Tandon School of University of Michigan Southwest Research Institute Engineering
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Sam Lauzon André Weimerskirchy Justin Cappos University of Michigan University of Michigan, NYU Tandon School of
[email protected] Lear Corporation Engineering
[email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT 26,27,29–31,33–37,39]. In one such case, a compromised Source- Forge mirror distributed a malicious version of phpMyAdmin, a Software update systems for automobiles can deliver significant popular database administration software [33]. The modified ver- benefits, but, if not implemented carefully, they could potentially sion allowed attackers to gain system access and remotely execute incur serious security vulnerabilities. Previous solutions for secur- PHP code on servers that installed the software. ing software updates consider standard attacks and deploy widely understood security mechanisms, such as digital signatures for the Automobiles introduced software updates more than a decade software updates, and hardware security modules (HSM) to sign ago, and today many electronic components in a vehicle can be up- software updates. However, no existing solution considers more dated by an automotive technician with a proper tool. However, advanced security objectives, such as resilience against a reposi- available update mechanisms played a crucial role in a variety of tory compromise, or freeze attacks to the vehicle’s update mech- published automotive related hacks, such as the recent study by anism, or a compromise at a supplier’s site.