Firmware Dumping

Flash Memory Types

NOR Flash (SOIC8 package)
- SPI Flash
- Mostly error "Fault-free" memory
- Used for embedded device that need fast execution, but low storage capacity
NAND Flash (TSOP48 package)
eMMC Flash (BGA{153} package)
UFS Universal Flash Storage

Flash a new firmware into the microcontroller

# send raw data firmware
$ avrdude -p m328p -c usbasp -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 9600 -U flash:w:flash_raw.bin

# send ihex firmware
$ avrdude -c arduino -p atmega328p -P /dev/ttyUSB* -b115200 -u -V -U flash:w:CHALLENGE.hex
$ avrdude -c usbasp -p m328p -F -U flash:r:dump.hex:i

# default
$ avrdude -c usbasp -p m328p -C /etc/avrdude.conf -U flash:w:hardcodedPassword.ino.arduino_standard.hex

Using raspberrypi/picotool

# extension indicates the type (bin, uf2)
picotool load firmware.bin

Dump flash using debug port

Using avrdudes/avrdude

$ avrdude -p m328p -c usbasp -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 9600 -U flash:r:flash_raw.bin:r
$ avrdude -p m328p -c arduino -P /dev/ttyACM0 -b 115200 -U flash:r:flash_raw.bin:r
$ avrdude -p atmega328p -c arduino -P/dev/ttyACM0 -b 115200 -D -U flash:r:program.bin:r -F -v

Using openocd-org/openocd

Determine code space in the microcontroller (for example nRF51822 - Micro:bit), save as dump_img.cfg:
```
init
reset init
halt
dump_image image.bin 0x00000000 0x00040000
exit
```

Dump with openocd

sudo openocd -f /home/maki/tools/hardware/openocd/tcl/interface/stlink-v2-1.cfg -f /home/maki/tools/hardware/openocd/tcl/target/nrf51.cfg -f dump_fw.cfg

Using raspberrypi/picotool

Build PicoTool, you will need the pico-sdk

# PicoSDK
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk.git
cd pico-sdk
git submodule update --init

# Picotool
cd ..
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/picotool.git
cd picotool
mkdir build
cd build
cmake -DPICO_SDK_PATH=../pico-sdk ..
make

Dump the program or the whole flash memory

sudo ./picotool save -F /tmp/out.bin
Saving file: [==============================]  100%
Wrote 73312 bytes to /tmp/out.bin

sudo ./picotool save --all -F /tmp/out2.bin
Saving file: [==============================]  100%
Wrote 2097152 bytes to /tmp/out2.bin

Dump Flash via SPI

Using flashrom/flashroom

sudo apt-get install build-essential pciutils usbutils libpci-dev libusb-dev libftdi1 libftdi-dev zlib1g-dev subversion libusb-1.0-0-dev
svn co svn://flashrom.org/flashrom/trunk flashrom
cd flashrom
make

flashrom -p ft232_spi:type:232h -r spidump.bin
flashrom -p linux_spi:dev=/dev/spidev0.0,spispeed=512 -r spi_dump.bin
flashrom -p serprog:dev=/dev/ttyACM0,spispeed=160k -r dump_spi.bin -c "MX25L6406E/MX25L6408E"

Using HydraBus: hydrabus/hydrafw/hydra_spi_dump.py

./hydra_spi_dump.py firmware.bin 1024 0x000000 fast

Convert ihex to elf

The Intel HEX is a transitional file format for microcontrollers, (E)PROMs, and other devices. The documentation states that HEXs can be converted to binary files and programmed into a configuration device.

Each line in the ihex file starts with :

a colon :
followed by ONE BYTE = record length
followed by TWO BYTES = offset to load
followed by ONE BYTE = Record Type
Last BYTE in the line = Checksum

Convert .hex(ihex format) to .elf file with avr-objcopy or with an online tool http://matrixstorm.com

$ avr-objcopy -I ihex -O elf32-avr dump.hex dump.elf
# or 
$ objcopy -I ihex chest.hex -O binary chest.bin ; xxd chest.bin

Alternative with Python bincopy

import bincopy
import sys

f = bincopy.BinFile()
f.add_ihex_file(sys.argv[1])
print(f.as_binary())

Quick strings on .hex

cat defaultPassword.ino.arduino_standard.hex | tr -d ":" | tr -d "\n" | xxd -r -p  | strings

Inspect the assembly with avr-objdump -m avr -D chest.hex.\ Emulate : qemu-system-avr -S -s -nographic -serial tcp::5678,server=on,wait=off -machine uno -bios chest.bin

Explore firmware

strings

$ strings file.bin

$ strings -e l file.bin
The strings -e flag specifies the encoding of the characters. -el specifies little-endian characters 16-bits wide (e.g. UTF-16)

$ strings -tx file.bin
The -t flag will return the offset of the string within the file. -tx will return it in hex format, T-to in octal and -td in decimal.

dd

$ dd if=firmware.bin of=firmware.chunk bs=1 skip=$((0x200)) count=$((0x400-0x200))
If we wanted to run it a little faster, we could increase the block size:
$ dd if=firmware.bin of=firmware.chunk bs=$((0x100)) skip=$((0x200/0x100)) count=$(((0x400-0x200)/0x100))

binwalk

$ binwalk -Me file.bin
$ binwalk -Y dump.elf 
DECIMAL       HEXADECIMAL     DESCRIPTION
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3708          0xE7C           ARM executable code, 16-bit (Thumb), little endian, at least 522 valid instructions

Unsquashfs

sudo unsquashfs -f -d /media/seagate /tmp/file.squashfs

Write new firmware

Repack firmware

mksquashfs4 squashfs-root myrootfs {options}
dd if=myrootfs of=dump/bin bs=1 seek=<offset> conv=notrunc

Flashrom write

flashrom -p ft2232_spi:type=232H -w dump.bin

Type of firmware

SREC - Motorola S-Record : All S-record file lines start with a capital S.
Intel HEX lines all start with a colon.
TI-TXT is a Texas Instruments format, usually for the MSP430 series. Memory addresses are prepended with an @, and data is represented in hex.
Raw NAND dumps

Check entropy

High entropy = probably encrypted (or compressed). Low entropy = probably not

$ binwalk -E fw