Comment by srcreigh
1 day ago
> I haven’t actually been brave enough to write a modified firmware to the thing yet - it’s a pretty expensive monitor - but I’ll get there at some point.
Honestly if you don't have working patches, it's really not owned.
I would love to get a better understanding of how to safely iteratively patch firmware. I bricked a router last week trying to add a TFTP boot path to the boot partition. It just sucks that it's so risky.
Relatedly, we also need good glitching tools, as some firmware even for cheap devices are not available unencrypted, and flash read is disabled...
We are NOT there yet but I hope we get there soon.
If you're prepared to get out a soldering iron and/or chip-clip, you can usually back up and restore whatever IC stores the firmware you're modifying, giving you a recovery path.
> we also need good glitching tools
There are a lot already, what do you feel is missing?
What about automotive? I suspect automotive firmwares to be more protected already, but where do I start with playing with the infotainment systems?
How should I learn more about how to do it, what to buy, etc ? I haven't found ChatGPT to be a good teacher about this topic, and in particular re glitching, AI will refuse to discuss specifics
I have enough basic soldering to get UART attached, but not sure what to try after that.
Equipment-wise, I currently just have a few ESP32-C3s and electronics basics kit and some basic soldering stuff.
I flashed coreboot on an x220 once [0], and I think that can give you a good overall idea of how backing up and reprogramming an SPI memory works. From that you could do your own research checking the ICs in your hardware, and extrapolating to the correct tools you will need to read/write the chip you have in mind.
[0] https://stoisavljevic.com/articles/coreboot
ch341a programmer with a clip attachment. That's basically it. A 10 USD investment. No soldering unless flash chip is SMD.
2 replies →
There are plenty of pre-2023 resources out there, especially conference talks. But, Claude has no issues discussing glitching if you have CVP.
12 replies →