ha1vk/TEE-reversing

A curated list of public TEE resources for learning how to reverse-engineer and achieve trusted code execution on ARM devices

TEE Basics & General

• Introduction to Trusted Execution Environment: ARM's TrustZone

  • https://blog.quarkslab.com/introduction-to-trusted-execution-environment-arms-trustzone.html

• Introduction to TEE (original title: TEEを中心とするCPUセキュリティ機能の動向 )

  • https://seminar-materials.iijlab.net/iijlab-seminar/iijlab-seminar-20181120.pdf

• Attacking the ARM's TrustZone

  • https://blog.quarkslab.com/attacking-the-arms-trustzone.html

• ARM TrustZone Security Whitepaper

  • http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.prd29-genc-009492c/PRD29-GENC-009492C_trustzone_security_whitepaper.pdf

• Web Site ARM TrustZone

  • https://developer.arm.com/ip-products/security-ip/trustzone

• TrustZone Explained: Architectural Features and Use Cases

  • http://sefcom.asu.edu/publications/trustzone-explained-cic2016.pdf

• Trustworthy Execution on Mobile Devices

  • https://netsec.ethz.ch/publications/papers/paper-hyperphone-TRUST-2012.pdf

• Demystifying ARM Trustzone : A Comprehensive Survey

  • https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nuno_Santos9/publication/330696364_Demystifying_Arm_TrustZone_A_Comprehensive_Survey/links/5c6ff1a792851c6950379cdd/Demystifying-Arm-TrustZone-A-Comprehensive-Survey.pdf

• Understanding Trusted Execution Environments and Arm TrustZone (by Azeria)

  • https://azeria-labs.com/trusted-execution-environments-tee-and-trustzone/

• SoK: Understanding the Prevailing Security Vulnerabilities in TrustZone-assisted TEE Systems

  • https://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/pfonseca/papers/sp2020-tees.pdf

• Giving Mobile Security the Boot (by Jonathan Levin)

  • https://papers.put.as/papers/ios/2016/TrustZone.pdf

• The ARMs race to TrustZone (by Jonathan Levin)

  • http://technologeeks.com/files/TZ.pdf

TEE Exploits/Security Analysis

HiSilicon/Huawei (TrustedCore)

• Exploiting Trustzone on Android (BH-US 2015) by Di Shen(@returnsme)

  • https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-15/materials/us-15-Shen-Attacking-Your-Trusted-Core-Exploiting-Trustzone-On-Android-wp.pdf

• EL3 Tour : Get the Ultimate Privilege of Android Phone (Infiltrate19)

  • https://speakerdeck.com/hhj4ck/el3-tour-get-the-ultimate-privilege-of-android-phone
  • Paper : infiltrate.pdf
  • video: https://vimeo.com/335948808

• Nailgun: Break the privilege isolation in ARM devices (PoC #2 only)

  • https://github.com/ningzhenyu/nailgun

• Nick Stephens : how does someone unlock your phone with nose. (give big picture of NWd <> SWd communications and exploits) GeekPwn 2016

  • https://fr.slideshare.net/GeekPwnKeen/nick-stephenshow-does-someone-unlock-your-phone-with-nose

Qualcomm (QSEE)

• Reflections on Trusting TrustZone (2014)

  • https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-14/materials/us-14-Rosenberg-Reflections-on-Trusting-TrustZone.pdf

• Getting arbitrary code execution in TrustZone's kernel from any context (28/03/2015)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2015/03/getting-arbitrary-code-execution-in.html

• Exploring Qualcomm's TrustZone implementation (04/08/2015)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2015/08/exploring-qualcomms-trustzone.html

• Full TrustZone exploit for MSM8974 (10/08/2015)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2015/08/full-trustzone-exploit-for-msm8974.html

• TrustZone Kernel Privilege Escalation (CVE-2016-2431)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/06/trustzone-kernel-privilege-escalation.html

• War of the Worlds - Hijacking the Linux Kernel from QSEE

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/05/war-of-worlds-hijacking-linux-kernel.html

• QSEE privilege escalation vulnerability and exploit (CVE-2015-6639)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/05/qsee-privilege-escalation-vulnerability.html

• Exploring Qualcomm's Secure Execution Environment (26/04/2016)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/04/exploring-qualcomms-secure-execution.html

• Android privilege escalation to mediaserver from zero permissions (CVE-2014-7920 + CVE-2014-7921)

  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/01/android-privilege-escalation-to.html

• Trust Issues: Exploiting TrustZone TEEs (24 July 2017)

  • https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2017/07/trust-issues-exploiting-trustzone-tees.html

• Breaking Bad. Reviewing Qualcomm ARM64 TZ and HW-enabled Secure Boot on Android (4-9.x)

  • https://github.com/bkerler/slides_and_papers/blob/master/QualcommCrypto.pdf

• Technical Advisory: Private Key Extraction from Qualcomm Hardware-backed Keystores CVE-2018-11976 (NCC)

  • https://www.nccgroup.trust/us/our-research/private-key-extraction-qualcomm-keystore/

• Qualcomm TrustZone Integer Signedness bug (12/2014)

  • https://fredericb.info/2014/12/qpsiir-80-qualcomm-trustzone-integer.html

• The road to Qualcomm TrustZone apps fuzzing (RECON Montreal 2019)

  • https://cfp.recon.cx/media/tz_apps_fuzz.pdf

• Downgrade Attack on TrustZone

  • http://ww2.cs.fsu.edu/~ychen/paper/downgradeTZ.pdf

Motorola (Qualcomm SoC)

• Unlocking the Motorola Bootloader (10/02/2016)
  • http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/02/unlocking-motorola-bootloader.html

HTC (Qualcomm SoC)

• Here Be Dragons: Vulnerabilities in TrustZone (14/08/2014)
  • https://atredispartners.blogspot.com/2014/08/here-be-dragons-vulnerabilities-in.html

Trustonic (Kinibi & MobiCore)

• Unbox Your Phone: Parts I, II & III

  • https://medium.com/taszksec/unbox-your-phone-part-i-331bbf44c30c
  • https://medium.com/taszksec/unbox-your-phone-part-ii-ae66e779b1d6
  • https://medium.com/taszksec/unbox-your-phone-part-iii-7436ffaff7c7
  • https://github.com/puppykitten/tbase
  • https://github.com/puppykitten/tbase/blob/master/unboxyourphone_ekoparty.pdf

• KINIBI TEE: Trusted Application Exploitation (2018-12-10)

  • https://www.synacktiv.com/posts/exploit/kinibi-tee-trusted-application-exploitation.html

• TEE Exploitation on Samsung Exynos devices by Eloi Sanfelix: Parts I, II, III, IV

  • https://labs.bluefrostsecurity.de/blog/2019/05/27/tee-exploitation-on-samsung-exynos-devices-introduction/
  • https://labs.bluefrostsecurity.de/files/TEE.pdf
  • video: (Infiltrate 2019) https://vimeo.com/335947683

• Breaking Samsung's ARM TrustZone (BlackHat USA 2019)

  • slides: https://i.blackhat.com/USA-19/Thursday/us-19-Peterlin-Breaking-Samsungs-ARM-TrustZone.pdf
  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXH5LJGRwXI&list=PLH15HpR5qRsWrfkjwFSI256x1u2Zy49VI&index=30

• Launching feedback-driven fuzzing on TrustZone TEE (HITBGSEC2019)

  • https://gsec.hitb.org/materials/sg2019/D2%20-%20Launching%20Feedback-Driven%20Fuzzing%20on%20TrustZone%20TEE%20-%20Andrey%20Akimov.pdf

• A Deep Dive into Samsung's trustzone

  • (Part 1 - intro) https://blog.quarkslab.com/a-deep-dive-into-samsungs-trustzone-part-1.html
  • (Part 2 - fuzzing TAs) https://blog.quarkslab.com/a-deep-dive-into-samsungs-trustzone-part-2.html
  • (Part 3 - exploiting EL3) https://blog.quarkslab.com/a-deep-dive-into-samsungs-trustzone-part-3.html

Samsung (TEEGRIS)

• Breaking TEE Security :

  • (Part 1 - Intro) https://www.riscure.com/blog/tee-security-samsung-teegris-part-1
  • (Part 2 - Exploiting TAs) https://www.riscure.com/blog/tee-security-samsung-teegris-part-2
  • (Part 3 - EoP TAs > TOS) https://www.riscure.com/blog/tee-security-samsung-teegris-part-3

• Reverse-engineering Samsung Exynos 9820 bootloader and TZ by @astarasikov

  • http://allsoftwaresucks.blogspot.com/2019/05/reverse-engineering-samsung-exynos-9820.html

• Bug Hunting S21’s 10ADAB1E FW (OffensiveCon 2022)

  • https://www.dropbox.com/s/2f14ga52jguu5cy/OffensiveCon%202022%20-%20Bug%20Hunting%20S21s%2010ADAB1E%20FW.pdf?dl=0

Apple (Secure Enclave)

• Demystifying the Secure Enclave Processor by Tarjei Mandt, Mathew Solnik, and David Wang
  • http://mista.nu/research/sep-paper.pdf
  • slides https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-16/materials/us-16-Mandt-Demystifying-The-Secure-Enclave-Processor.pdf

Intel (Intel SGX)

• Intel SGX Explained by Victor Costan and Srinivas Devadas
  • https://css.csail.mit.edu/6.858/2017/readings/costan-sgx.pdf

TEE Fuzzing

• PARTEMU: Enabling Dynamic Analysis of Real-World TrustZone Software Using Emulation

  • https://people.eecs.berkeley.edu/~rohanpadhye/files/partemu-usenixsec20.pdf

• The Road to Qualcomm TrustZone Apps Fuzzing

  • https://research.checkpoint.com/the-road-to-qualcomm-trustzone-apps-fuzzing/
  • https://cfp.recon.cx/media/tz_apps_fuzz.pdf

• Launching feedback-driven fuzzing on TrustZone TEE (HITB GSEC 2019 Singapore)

  • slides: https://gsec.hitb.org/materials/sg2019/D2%20-%20Launching%20Feedback-Driven%20Fuzzing%20on%20TrustZone%20TEE%20-%20Andrey%20Akimov.pdf
  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb7KGznzczs

• Fuzzing Embedded (Trusted) Operating Systems Using AFL (Martijn Bogaard | nullcon Goa 2019) OP-TEE

  • slides: https://nullcon.net/website/archives/pdf/bangalore-2019/fuzzing-embedded-(trusted)-operating-systems%20using-AFL.pdf
  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZhxZlwZ160
  • webinar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=12&v=ROyD9RTMePA

• SAN19-225 Fuzzing embedded (trusted) operating systems using AFL (Martijn Bogaard) OP-TEE

  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bYAwaJ7WZw

TEE Secure Boot

• Reverse Engineering Samsung S6 SBOOT - Part I & II

  • https://blog.quarkslab.com/reverse-engineering-samsung-s6-sboot-part-i.html
  • https://blog.quarkslab.com/reverse-engineering-samsung-s6-sboot-part-ii.html

• Secure initialization of TEEs: when secure boot falls short (EuskalHack 2017)

  • https://www.riscure.com/uploads/2017/08/euskalhack_2017_-_secure_initialization_of_tees_when_secure_boot_falls_short.pdf

• Amlogic S905 SoC: bypassing the (not so) Secure Boot to dump the BootROM

  • https://fredericb.info/2016/10/amlogic-s905-soc-bypassing-not-so.html#amlogic-s905-soc-bypassing-not-so

• Qualcomm Secure Boot and Image Authentication Technical Overview

  • https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/secure-boot-and-image-authentication-technical-overview-v20

• Breaking Samsung's Root of Trust - Exploiting Samsung Secure Boot (BlackHat 2020)

  • https://teamt5.org/en/posts/blackhat-s-talk-breaking-samsung-s-root-of-trust-exploiting-samsung-secure-boot/

• Overview of Secure Boot state in the ARM-based SoCs (Hardware-Aided Trusted Computing devroom - Maciej Pijanowski- FOSDEM 2021)

  • https://archive.fosdem.org/2021/schedule/event/tee_arm_secboot/attachments/paper/4635/export/events/attachments/tee_arm_secboot/paper/4635/Overview_of_Secure_Boot_in_Arm_based_SoCs.pdf

TEE Videos

• Ekoparty-13 (2017) Daniel Komaromy - Unbox Your Phone - Exploring and Breaking Samsung's TrustZone SandBoxes

  • video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2Mo8WcmmZo
  • slides: https://github.com/puppykitten/tbase/blob/master/unboxyourphone_ekoparty.pdf

• Daniel Komaromy - Enter The Snapdragon (2014-10-11)

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wJRnewVE-g

• BSides DC 2018 & DerbiCon VIII - On the nose: Bypassing Huaweis Fingerprint Authentication by Exploiting the TrustZone by Nick Stephens

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFFhdqP7Dxg
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdoGCXGHGnY

• An infestation of dragons: Exploring vulnerabilities in the ARM TrustZone architecture by Josh Thomas and Charles Holmes Android Security Symposium in Vienna, Austria, 9-11 September 2015

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxNGgOR-iVM

• Android and trusted execution environments by Jan-Erik Ekberg (Trustonic) at the Android Security Symposium in Vienna, Austria, 9-11 September 2015

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5542lEk3OAM

• 34C3 2017 - Console Security - Switch by Plutoo, Derrek and Naehrwert

  • https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8941-console_security_-_switch

• 34C3 2017 - TrustZone is not enough by Pascal Cotret

  • https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8831-trustzone_is_not_enough

• RootedCON 2017 - What your mother never told you about Trusted Execution Environment... by José A. Rivas

  • audio Spanish original https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzrIzS84mdk
  • English translation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzb5OfE1M7s

• BH US 2015 - Fingerprints On Mobile Devices: Abusing And Leaking

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NkojB9gLXM

• No ConName 2015 - (Un)Trusted Execution Environments by Pau Oliva

  • video: audio Spanish only https://vimeo.com/150787883
  • slides: https://t.co/vFATxEa7sy

• BH US 2014 - Reflections on Trusting TrustZone by Dan Rosenberg

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w40mS5yLjc

• ARM TrustZone for dummies by Tim Hummels

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecBByjwny3s

Microarchitectural attacks applied to TEE

• ARMageddon: Cache attacks on mobile devices

  • [Paper] https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity16/sec16_paper_lipp.pdf
  • [Related tool] https://github.com/IAIK/armageddon

• Cache storage channels: Alias-driven attacks and verified countermeasures.

  • https://www.kth.se/polopoly_fs/1.641701.1550155969!/R.Guanciale.pdf

• 34C3 - Microarchitectural Attacks on Trusted Execution Environments

  • https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8950-microarchitectural_attacks_on_trusted_execution_environments

• TruSpy: Cache side-channel information leakage from the secure world on ARM devices

  • https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/980.pdf

Tools

Emulate

• QEMU Support for Exynos9820 S-Boot

  • https://github.com/astarasikov/qemu

• Emulating Exynos 4210 BootROM in QEMU

  • https://fredericb.info/2018/03/emulating-exynos-4210-bootrom-in-qemu.html#emulating-exynos-4210-bootrom-in-qemu

Reverse

• TZAR unpacker

  • https://gist.github.com/astarasikov/f47cb7f46b5193872f376fa0ea842e4b#file-unpack_startup_tzar-py

• IDA MCLF Loader

  • https://github.com/ghassani/mclf-ida-loader

• Ghidra MCLF Loader

  • https://github.com/NeatMonster/mclf-ghidra-loader

Other useful resources

• ARM Trusted Firmware: reference implementation of secure world for Cortex A and Cortex M

  • https://www.trustedfirmware.org/

• OP-TEE: open source ARM TrusZone based TEE

  • https://www.op-tee.org/

• Trust Issues: Exploiting TrustZone TEEs by Project Zero Team

  • https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2017/07/trust-issues-exploiting-trustzone-tees.html

• Boomerang: Exploiting the Semantic Gap in Trusted Execution Environments (A.Machiry) 2017

  • https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f62b/db9f1950329f59dc467238737d2de1a1bac4.pdf (slides)
  • http://sites.cs.ucsb.edu/~cspensky/pdfs/ndss17-final227.pdf (paper)
  • https://github.com/ucsb-seclab/boomerang (tool)

• TEE research (Some useful IDA and Ghidra plugins for TEE research)

  • https://github.com/bkerler/tee_research