Performing Firmware Malware Analysis

When to Use

• A compromised IoT device or router needs firmware analysis to identify implanted backdoors
• Investigating UEFI/BIOS rootkits that persist across OS reinstallations
• Analyzing firmware updates for supply chain compromise or malicious modifications
• Extracting and examining embedded Linux filesystems from IoT device firmware images
• Verifying firmware integrity after a suspected hardware or firmware-level compromise

Do not use for standard operating system malware; use PE/ELF analysis tools for OS-level malware on conventional systems.

Prerequisites

• binwalk installed for firmware image analysis and extraction (pip install binwalk)
• Ghidra with ARM/MIPS architecture support for embedded binary reverse engineering
• UEFI Tool (UEFITool) for UEFI firmware parsing and analysis
• Firmware Analysis Toolkit (FAT) or EMBA for automated firmware analysis
• QEMU for emulating extracted firmware filesystems
• Cross-compilation toolchains for ARM, MIPS, and other embedded architectures

Workflow

Step 1: Extract and Identify Firmware Components

Analyze the firmware image structure and extract filesystems:

# Identify embedded filesystems and compressed data
binwalk firmware.bin

# Extract all identified components
binwalk -e firmware.bin

# Recursive extraction with signature scanning
binwalk -eM firmware.bin

# Output typically includes:
# - Bootloader (U-Boot, GRUB, custom)
# - Kernel image (Linux, RTOS)
# - Root filesystem (SquashFS, JFFS2, CramFS, ext4)
# - Configuration data
# - Digital signatures or checksums

# Entropy analysis to find encrypted or compressed regions
binwalk -E firmware.bin

# Identify specific filesystem types
file _firmware.bin.extracted/*

# For SquashFS filesystems
unsquashfs _firmware.bin.extracted/squashfs-root.img
ls squashfs-root/

Step 2: Analyze the Extracted Filesystem

Search for malicious modifications in the firmware filesystem:

# Directory structure analysis
find squashfs-root/ -type f | head -50

# Search for suspicious files
find squashfs-root/ -name "*.sh" -exec ls -la {} \;
find squashfs-root/ -perm -4000 -type f  # SUID binaries
find squashfs-root/ -name "*.so" -newer squashfs-root/bin/busybox  # Modified libraries

# Check startup scripts for backdoors
cat squashfs-root/etc/init.d/rcS
cat squashfs-root/etc/inittab
ls -la squashfs-root/etc/rc.d/

# Search for hardcoded credentials
grep -rn "password\|passwd\|secret\|key\|token" squashfs-root/etc/ 2>/dev/null
grep -rn "root:" squashfs-root/etc/shadow 2>/dev/null

# Check for unauthorized SSH keys
find squashfs-root/ -name "authorized_keys" -exec cat {} \;

# Network configuration backdoors
cat squashfs-root/etc/hosts
grep -rn "iptables\|nc\|netcat\|ncat" squashfs-root/etc/ squashfs-root/usr/bin/

# Check for reverse shells in cron
find squashfs-root/ -name "crontab" -o -name "cron*" | xargs cat 2>/dev/null

# Identify all ELF binaries for analysis
find squashfs-root/ -type f -exec file {} \; | grep ELF

Step 3: Reverse Engineer Suspicious Binaries

Analyze extracted binaries that may be backdoors:

# Identify architecture and format
file squashfs-root/usr/bin/suspicious_binary

# Extract strings for IOC discovery
strings squashfs-root/usr/bin/suspicious_binary | grep -iE "http|ip|port|shell|connect|exec"

# Cross-reference against known firmware binaries
# Compare SHA-256 hashes with known-good firmware
sha256sum squashfs-root/usr/bin/* > current_hashes.txt
# diff against baseline: diff baseline_hashes.txt current_hashes.txt

# Import into Ghidra for disassembly (select correct architecture)
# ARM:   ARM/AARCH64 (Little Endian for most IoT devices)
# MIPS:  MIPS/MIPS64 (Big or Little Endian depending on device)
# x86:   For UEFI modules

# Analyze with radare2 for quick triage
r2 -A squashfs-root/usr/bin/suspicious_binary
# Commands: afl (function list), pdf @main (disassemble main), iz (strings)

Step 4: UEFI/BIOS Firmware Analysis

Analyze system firmware for bootkits and implants:

# Extract UEFI firmware volumes with UEFITool
# GUI: UEFITool -> File -> Open -> Select firmware.rom
# CLI: UEFIExtract firmware.rom

# Analyze UEFI firmware with chipsec (requires hardware access)
python chipsec_main.py -m common.bios_wp     # BIOS write protection
python chipsec_main.py -m common.spi_lock     # SPI flash lock
python chipsec_main.py -m common.secureboot   # Secure Boot status

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