[time-nuts] More GPS troubles

[Harald Koch]

> "Since the Arbiter showed no ability to compare the settings to internal
> clock settings, it suffered permanent damage when it was exposed to the
> exploit."
>
> Permanent damage?  As in components failed?  No, I think a factory reset
> would restore it to function.


You've apparently missed some of the details in the article; they
specifically discussed this point. On many of these devices the
corruption was to permanent storage.

One GPS receiver had a permanent "divide-by-zero" bug, even after
reboots, because the corrupt satellite elements were stored
permanently. It's possible that there is no way to update the firmware
at this point, because the device does not stay running long enough.
(I've "bricked" one or two pieces of embedded hardware this way myself
over the years ;). It would not surprise me if a hard "factory reset"
would not erase the satellite orbital elements, since they're so
important to correct GPS operation.

Another GPS receiver stored the GPS Week Rollover count in permanent
storage, with no way to reset it. Force this device to perform a week
rollover, and it is useless unless you leave it switched off for 20
years.

Sure these devices are still "repairable", but the expertise required
means, at the very least, ship it back to the factory...

So few programmers write code with malicious activity in mind. Even
dedicated security software developers have a hard time thinking about
every possible threat! And couple that with the pressure to "ship
now"...

-- 
Harald