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Exploiting Security Vulnerabilities in Intermittent Computing

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Security, Privacy, and Applied Cryptography Engineering (SPACE 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 11348))

Abstract

Energy harvesters have enabled widespread utilization of ultra-low-power devices that operate solely based on the energy harvested from the environment. Due to the unpredictable nature of harvested energy, these devices experience frequent power outages. They resume execution after a power loss by utilizing intermittent computing techniques and non-volatile memory. In embedded devices, intermittent computing refers to a class of computing that stores a snapshot of the system and application state, as a checkpoint, in non-volatile memory, which is used to restore the system and application state in case of power loss. Although non-volatile memory provides tolerance against power failures, they introduce new vulnerabilities to the data stored in them. Sensitive data, stored in a checkpoint, is available to an attacker after a power loss, and the state-of-the-art intermittent computing techniques fail to consider the security of checkpoints. In this paper, we utilize the vulnerabilities introduced by the intermittent computing techniques to enable various implementation attacks. For this study, we focus on TI’s Compute Through Power Loss utility as an example of the state-of-the-art intermittent computing solution. First, we analyze the security, or lack thereof, of checkpoints in the latest intermittent computing techniques. Then, we attack the checkpoints and locate sensitive data in non-volatile memory. Finally, we attack AES using this information to extract the secret key. To the best of our knowledge, this work presents the first systematic analysis of the seriousness of security threats present in the field of intermittent computing.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NSF grant 1704176 and SRC GRC Task 2712.019.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24060, USA

    Archanaa S. Krishnan & Patrick Schaumont

Authors
  1. Archanaa S. Krishnan
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  2. Patrick Schaumont
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Archanaa S. Krishnan or Patrick Schaumont .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Anupam Chattopadhyay

  2. Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Chester Rebeiro

  3. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia

    Yuval Yarom

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S. Krishnan, A., Schaumont, P. (2018). Exploiting Security Vulnerabilities in Intermittent Computing. In: Chattopadhyay, A., Rebeiro, C., Yarom, Y. (eds) Security, Privacy, and Applied Cryptography Engineering. SPACE 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11348. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05072-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-05072-6_7

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