Empowering IoT Firmware Secure Update with Customization Rights

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2507.19367v1
• Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:17:29 GMT
• Title: Empowering IoT Firmware Secure Update with Customization Rights
• Authors: Weihao Chen, Yansong Gao, Boyu Kuang, Jin B. Hong, Yuqing Zhang, Anmin Fu,
• Abstract summary: We conduct a pilot study on the update of 200 Linux-based IoT devices across 23 vendors.<n>A broader analysis of update-related CVEs from 2020 to 2024 reveals that over half originate from customization-induced issues.<n>We propose IMUP, the first framework to address two key challenges: constructing a trustworthy cross-module integrity chain and scaling update performance under mass customization.
• Score: 15.500229921783257
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Firmware updates remain the primary line of defense for IoT devices; however, the update channel itself has become a well-established attack vector. Existing defenses mainly focus on securing monolithic firmware images, leaving module-level customization -a growing user demand-largely unprotected and insufficiently explored. To address this gap, we conduct a pilot study on the update workflows of 200 Linux-based IoT devices across 23 vendors, uncovering five previously undocumented vulnerabilities caused by customization practices. A broader analysis of update-related CVEs from 2020 to 2024 reveals that over half originate from customization-induced issues. These findings highlight a critical yet underexamined reality: as customization increases, so does the attack surface, while current defenses fail to keep pace. We propose IMUP (Integrity-Centric Modular Update Platform), the first framework to address two key challenges: constructing a trustworthy cross-module integrity chain and scaling update performance under mass customization. IMUP combines three techniques: per-module chameleon hashing for integrity, server-side proof-of-work offloading to reduce device overhead, and server-side caching to reuse module combinations, minimizing rebuild costs. Security analysis shows that even when 95 percent of secret keys are exposed, forging a valid image incurs over 300 times the cost of the legitimate server. Experiments on heterogeneous IoT devices demonstrate that IMUP reduces server-side generation time by 2.9 times and device downtime by 5.9 times compared to a package-manager baseline.

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