PhantomLiDAR: Cross-modality Signal Injection Attacks against LiDAR
Zizhi Jin
Network and Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2025 · Day 2 · Sensor Attacks
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) systems are foundational technologies for autonomous vehicles, robotics, and various industrial applications, providing critical 3D perception of the environment. The accuracy and integrity of LiDAR data are paramount for ensuring system safety and reliability. This talk, "PhantomLiDAR: Cross-modality Signal Injection Attacks against LiDAR," delves into novel attack vectors against these essential sensors, demonstrating how **Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)** can be leveraged to compromise LiDAR functionality in unprecedented ways. The research highlights significant vulnerabilities that extend beyond previously explored attack surfaces, emphasizing the urgent need for enhanced security measures in LiDAR design and deployment.
AI review
Systematic EMI attack framework against LiDAR that expands the attack surface beyond the optical layer — hitting analog receive circuits, temperature monitor sensors, and optical encoders — and weaponizes the FDD safety stack itself. Solid novelty, real hardware validation across five commercial units, and the indirect FDD exploitation angle is the kind of counterintuitive finding that makes security people uncomfortable in the right way.