Overcoming State: Finding Baseband Vulnerabilities by Fuzzing Layer-2
Unknown
Black Hat USA 2024 · Day 1 · Briefing
In this insightful talk at Black Hat USA, Marius and Dion unveiled their pioneering research into uncovering vulnerabilities within the cellular basebands of modern smartphones. Titled "Overcoming State: Finding Baseband Vulnerabilities by Fuzzing Layer-2," their presentation highlighted a novel approach to security analysis, specifically targeting **Layer 2** (the Data Link Layer) of the cellular communication stack. This work stands in contrast to much of the prior research, which predominantly focused on higher layers, particularly Layer 3 (the Network Layer). The speakers emphasized the critical nature of baseband security, given their intricate proprietary codebases and their direct exposure to over-the-air and internet packets, making them a prime target for attackers.