Reverse Engineering and Control-Aware Security Analysis of the ArduPilot UAV Framework

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2512.01164v1
• Date: Mon, 01 Dec 2025 00:47:11 GMT
• Title: Reverse Engineering and Control-Aware Security Analysis of the ArduPilot UAV Framework
• Authors: Yasaswini Konapalli, Lotfi Ben Othmane, Cihan Tunc, Feras Benchellal, Likhita Mudagere,
• Abstract summary: ArduPilot is among the most widely used open-source autopilot UAV frameworks.<n>This paper reconstructs the software architecture and the control models implemented by ArduPilot.<n>We examine how these control models could potentially misused to induce malicious behaviors while relying on legitimate inputs.
• Score: 0.2609784101826761
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technologies are gaining high interest for many domains, which makes UAV security of utmost importance. ArduPilot is among the most widely used open-source autopilot UAV frameworks; yet, many studies demonstrate the vulnerabilities affecting such systems. Vulnerabilities within its communication subsystems (including WiFi, telemetry, or GPS) expose critical entry points, and vulnerabilities in Ardupilot can affect the control procedure. In this paper, we reconstruct the software architecture and the control models implemented by ArduPilot and then examine how these control models could potentially misused to induce malicious behaviors while relying on legitimate inputs.

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