Security Vulnerabilities Research Articles

Formal Verification with ABV : A Superior Alternative to UVM for Complex Computing Chips

This article explores the evolution and effectiveness of formal verification enhanced with Assertion-Based Verification (ABV) as a superior alternative to traditional Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) in complex computing chip design. Through analysis of implementation data from major semiconductor companies, including Intel's Core i7 and IBM's POWER processors, the article demonstrates how formal methods achieve up to 100% coverage of critical modules compared to UVM's typical 80-85% coverage. The research presents quantitative evidence of formal verification's advantages, including a 25-30% reduction in verification cycles, a 40% increase in security vulnerability detection, and a 55% reduction in overall verification time through advanced techniques such as compositional verification and proof decomposition. The article also addresses scalability challenges and resource optimization strategies, providing a comprehensive framework for implementing formal verification in modern chip design workflows.

Watch Out for the Inherent Vulnerabilities in Developing Multi-tenant Cloud-FPGA: Communication Protocols

As FPGAs are being deployed in the cloud infrastructure for acceleration, the technology of multi-tenant FPGA has emerged as a topic of interest. This development has drawn considerable attention to its security issues. While previous research primarily focused on the security of applications, there has been limited exploration of the vulnerabilities inherent in FPGA IPs. In our work, we examine the vulnerabilities of two widely used data transmission protocols in modern FPGAs: the Advanced eXtensible Interface (AXI) and Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe). Our experiments, conducted with commercial FPGA development kits, launched fault injection attacks through the shared power distribution network (PDN). Through non-invasive electromagnetic (EM) trace measurement, we characterize the voltage fluctuation across various attack patterns. Subsequently, we simulate real-world data transfers using two crafted datasets with different statistical characteristics. The experimental results demonstrate the unique security vulnerabilities of the current AXI and PCIe protocols in the context of a multi-tenant cloud-FPGA. In response to such vulnerability, we further propose two defense strategies: InChAXI that utilizes integrity checking for AXI-based data, and FCPCIe that employs frequency scaling for PCIe-based data. The performance evaluation demonstrates that our proposed defenses can significantly reduce the fault injections on the AXI-based data transmission by 705 times with small overheads – 0.5% in hardware footprint and 7.9% in latency, respectively. On the other hand, FCPCIe effectively prevents the fault injection attack during the PCIe-based data transmission by reducing the user clock frequency, while incurring a 10.13% overhead on data throughput.

Semi-Supervised Intrusion Detection System for In-Vehicle Networks Based on Variational Autoencoder and Adversarial Reinforcement Learning

Despite the affordability, simplicity, and efficiency of controller area network (CAN) protocols, the security vulnerability remains a major challenge. Currently, a machine learning-based intrusion detection system (IDS) is considered an effective approach for improving security in CAN by identifying malicious attacks. However, earlier studies that relied on supervised learning methods required considerable amounts of labeled data. Data collection from vehicles is time-consuming and expensive. Furthermore, the obtained data exhibited a class imbalance, which presents further challenges in the analysis and model training. Thus, we propose a semi-supervised learning-based IDS that combines variational autoencoder (VAE) and adversarial reinforcement learning for the multi-class classification of both known and unknown attacks. The proposed system capitalizes on the diverse patterns inherent in unlabeled data, transforming this data space into one that is more conducive to classification. Concurrently, adversarial agents in the reinforcement learning algorithm interact competitively, progressively enhancing their ability to intelligently classify and select samples. To reduce the reliance on labeled data and effectively exploit them, we utilize a pseudo-labeling process for pre-training. Experimental results indicate that the proposed model achieves more effective classification while requiring less labeled data compared to other baseline models for known attacks. By inheriting the advantages of VAE, promising results demonstrate that the proposed system detects unknown attacks containing similar or completely different characteristics with high F1 scores exceeding 0.9 and 0.84, respectively. Finally, the proposed system was demonstrated to be a lightweight model for the expeditious detection of malevolent messages introduced into in-vehicle networks to ensure minimal latency.

Generation Probabilities Are Not Enough: Uncertainty Highlighting in AI Code Completions

Large-scale generative models have enabled the development of AI-powered code completion tools to assist programmers in writing code. Like all AI-powered tools, these code completion tools are not always accurate and can introduce bugs or even security vulnerabilities into code if not properly detected and corrected by a human programmer. One technique that has been proposed and implemented to help programmers locate potential errors is to highlight uncertain tokens. However, little is known about the effectiveness of this technique. Through a mixed-methods study with 30 programmers, we compare three conditions: providing the AI system's code completion alone, highlighting tokens with the lowest likelihood of being generated by the underlying generative model, and highlighting tokens with the highest predicted likelihood of being edited by a programmer. We find that highlighting tokens with the highest predicted likelihood of being edited leads to faster task completion and more targeted edits, and is subjectively preferred by study participants. In contrast, highlighting tokens according to their probability of being generated does not provide any benefit over the baseline with no highlighting. We further explore the design space of how to convey uncertainty in AI-powered code completion tools and find that programmers prefer highlights that are granular, informative, interpretable, and not overwhelming. This work contributes to building an understanding of what uncertainty means for generative models and how to convey it effectively.

Exploring the Security Challenges of an E-Voting System (EVS): A Case Study in the Bolgatanga Senior High School

The integration of electronic voting systems (EVS) into electoral processes promises increased efficiency, speed, and transparency. However, this technology also introduces a variety of security challenges that must be addressed to ensure the integrity of the voting process. This study explores the security vulnerabilities of an EVS, focusing on its implementation at Bolgatanga Senior High School (BIGBOSS). Through a case study approach, this research examines the potential threats to the administration of EVS, including issues related to data privacy, system integrity, authentication protocols, and susceptibility to cyber-attacks. A mixed-methods strategy was employed, utilizing surveys, interviews, and system tests to assess both technical vulnerabilities and user experiences. Key findings revealed Potential Voter Manipulation where unauthorized access could allow individuals to cast votes fraudulently; Insider Threats where trusted users exploiting their access could manipulate election outcomes; Weak Authentication; Lack of Robust Verification; Potential Physical Attack where individuals could vandalize machines and Vulnerabilities in Encryption which may expose votes, compromising ballot secrecy. The study recommends the implementation a blockchain-based technology , such as cryptographic techniques, consensus mechanisms, use of biometric verification to ensure the identity of voters as well as the use of digital signatures to verify the authenticity of electronic ballots and ensure that they haven't been altered during transmission, implementation of real-time monitoring of the e-voting system to detect and respond to security threats promptly” and also provide ongoing cybersecurity education and training to election officials, staff, and voters to raise awareness and reduce the risk of human error. These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on EVS security, providing insights into practical measures for improving the reliability and safety of electronic voting systems in educational institutions and beyond.

Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity : Advancing Threat Modeling and Vulnerability Assessment

This article examines the transformative role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in revolutionizing cybersecurity practices, with a particular focus on threat modeling and vulnerability assessment. As cyber threats grow increasingly sophisticated, traditional security measures often fall short in providing comprehensive protection. We explore how AI and machine learning algorithms enhance the accuracy and efficiency of threat modeling by analyzing vast datasets to identify patterns and anomalies indicative of potential security risks. The article also investigates AI's contribution to vulnerability assessment, highlighting its capacity for continuous monitoring and real-time analysis of diverse data sources, including network traffic, system logs, and threat intelligence feeds. By simulating various attack scenarios and prioritizing security vulnerabilities, AI-driven tools enable organizations to adopt a more proactive and dynamic approach to cybersecurity. While acknowledging the challenges and ethical considerations associated with AI implementation in this domain, this article underscores the significant potential of AI in fortifying cyber defenses and safeguarding digital assets in an ever-evolving threat landscape.

Mitigating Security Vulnerabilities in 6G Networks: A Comprehensive Analysis of the DMRN Protocol Using SVO Logic and ProVerif

Mitigating Security Vulnerabilities in 6G Networks: A Comprehensive Analysis of the DMRN Protocol Using SVO Logic and ProVerif

Intelligent Connected Vehicle Information Security Risks and Countermeasures

The development of intelligent connected vehicles has promoted the upgrading of the transportation system, but it also brings challenges in information security. This paper analyzes the current information security vulnerabilities of intelligent connected vehicles, including attack methods, security vulnerabilities, and protective measures. Firstly, through the analysis of the existing attack methods and their principles, the potential security vulnerabilities and threats are summarized. Then, based on security and cryptography technology, relevant measures for information security protection are proposed to achieve all-round protection of intelligent connected vehicle information. Finally, The paper puts forward the measures to solve the information security problem of intelligent connected vehicle from three aspects: Encryption and Authentication, Firewall and Intrusion Detection System, and Over-the-air (OTA).

Design and implementation of anti-mapping security access technology based on illegal scanning

Abstract In the current field of information security, illegal network scanning activities are prevalent, and such behaviors are usually aimed at detecting security vulnerabilities in network systems and preparing for future attack activities. This study proposes a secure access system based on anti-mapping technology, which aims to effectively block illegal scanning behaviors while ensuring that the normal access of legitimate users is not affected. The system integrates advanced behavioral analysis algorithms that utilize machine learning techniques for deep learning and pattern recognition of network traffic, and is able to accurately distinguish between normal user activities and malicious scanning attempts. At the core of the system is a set of dynamic adaptive identification mechanisms that update the detection algorithms in real time to adapt to emerging scanning techniques and attack strategies by continuously learning from changes in network traffic. In addition, the system employs role-based access control (RBAC) policies to enhance the protection of sensitive resources. The Secure Access Gateway is deployed at the boundary of the network to monitor and filter all ingress traffic, effectively intercepting unauthorized scanning activities by comprehensively evaluating the source, behavior and frequency of traffic. Experimental results show that the proposed two-layer network structure performs well in detecting common threats such as port scanning, DDoS attacks, and SQL injections, with an accuracy rate of over 95%. Especially for complex and covert APT (advanced persistent threat) attacks, the system can significantly reduce the false alarm rate and effectively improve the detection speed. However, when dealing with some highly customized malware, the system's recognition ability still needs to be improved, which indicates that future research needs to focus more on enhancing the ability to learn and adapt to unknown threats.

Advanced Security Auditing Methods for Solidity-Based Smart Contracts

The development of smart contracts remains in its early stages, with significant differences in underlying programming languages and application platforms resulting in a lack of standardization. This lack of standardization increases the susceptibility to vulnerabilities and associated financial losses. To address security vulnerabilities in smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain platform, this paper proposes a security audit method based on formal verification. The method integrates an input module, static analysis module, formal verification module, analog execution module, and report and recommendation module, which can accurately discover the security vulnerabilities and logical flaws of smart contracts through formal verification and other analysis techniques, thus realizing correctness detection. During the experiment, the method detects 8 types of common vulnerabilities in 148 smart contracts and marks 21 smart contracts with vulnerabilities. After manual review and analysis, it is found that 17 of these 21 marked smart contracts do have security vulnerabilities. The experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately detect security vulnerabilities and logic flaws in smart contracts through formal verification and other analysis techniques before smart contracts are deployed, thus significantly improving the security of smart contracts and reducing the economic losses that may be caused by code defects.

Key-area Cyberspace Mimic Defense Against Data-Oriented Attacks

As modern systems widely deploy protective measures for control data in memory, such as Control-Flow Integrity (CFI), attackers’ ability to manipulate control data is greatly restricted. Consequently, attackers are turning to opportunities to manipulate non-control data in memory (known as Data-Oriented Attacks, or DOAs), which have been proven to pose significant security threats to memory. However, existing techniques to mitigate DOAs often introduce significant overhead due to the indiscriminate protection of a large range of data objects. To address this challenge, this paper adopts a Cyberspace Mimic Defense (CMD) strategy, a generic framework for addressing endogenous security vulnerabilities, to prevent attackers from executing DOAs using known or unknown security flaws. Specifically, we introduce a formalized expression algorithm that assesses whether DOA-attackers can construct inputs to exploit vulnerability points. Building on this, we devise a key-area CMD strategy that modifies the code pathway from input to the vulnerability point, thereby effectively thwarting the activation of the vulnerability. Finally, our simulation experiments demonstrate that the key-area CMD strategy can effectively prevent DOAs by selectively diversifying parts of the program code.

Organizational Influence on Security Development in Open-Source Software Projects

Increasing technological complexity, intensified competition, and security requirements have driven open-source software (OSS) projects to become a crucial part of organizations' software development. This study focuses on the OSS project TensorFlow (TF) and uses a case study to examine how organizations and their associated developers collaborate to identify, fix and prevent security vulnerabilities. Social Network Analysis (SNA) of archived security data from software repositories is used to gain insight into security activities. The study examines the internal structure and evolution of security code collaboration, organizational networks, and top organizational contributors to TF. It also examines productivity, homophily, development diversity, and turnover rates among developers across various software releases. The in-depth insights from this research enhance our understanding of collaborative patterns in OSS communities within open software ecosystems, particularly in the security context.

End User Security using Smart Devices with Ability to Access IoT services

This paper explores the security issues of smart devices in IoT environments and proposes solutions to enhance end-user protection. A qualitative approach, including a comprehensive literature review, was used to identify key security issues and best practices. Key vulnerabilities in IoT device security include insecure communication channels, weak authentication mechanisms, outdated firmware and software, and a lack of standardized security protocols. Current security practices among end-users show limited awareness and inconsistent implementation. Recommendations include adopting universal security standards, enhancing user education through regular programs, promoting advanced security tools like multi-factor authentication, and simplifying device management with user-friendly interfaces. This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of IoT security issues and practical recommendations to create a safer IoT ecosystem, ensuring technological advancements do not compromise user security.

Federated learning-based natural language processing: a systematic literature review

Federated learning (FL) is a decentralized machine learning (ML) framework that allows models to be trained without sharing the participants’ local data. FL thus preserves privacy better than centralized machine learning. Since textual data (such as clinical records, posts in social networks, or search queries) often contain personal information, many natural language processing (NLP) tasks dealing with such data have shifted from the centralized to the FL setting. However, FL is not free from issues, including convergence and security vulnerabilities (due to unreliable or poisoned data introduced into the model), communication and computation bottlenecks, and even privacy attacks orchestrated by honest-but-curious servers. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review (SLR) of NLP applications in FL with a special focus on FL issues and the solutions proposed so far. Our review surveys 36 recent papers published in relevant venues, which are systematically analyzed and compared from multiple perspectives. As a result of the survey, we also identify the most outstanding challenges in the area.

WEBSITE SECURITY ANALYSIS CURUG VILLAGE GOVERNMENT USING OPEN WEB APPLICATION SECURITY PROJECT (OWASP)

Cybersecurity has become a crucial issue in the current digital era, especially for government websites that are often targeted by attacks. According to the National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), government websites are vulnerable to hacking. This study aims to analyze the security of the Curug Village Government website using the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP). The analysis was conducted on the ten main categories of web application security vulnerabilities listed in OWASP Top 10 2021, including Broken Access Control, Cryptographic Failures, Injection, Insecure Design, Security Misconfiguration, Vulnerable and Outdated Components, Identification and Authentication Failures, Software and Data Integrity Failures, Security Logging and Monitoring Failures, and Server-side Request Forgery. The results of the testing showed that 4 out of 8 vulnerabilities fall into the OWASP TOP 10 for 2021, particularly in the categories of Injection and Security Misconfiguration. Recommendations for improvements are provided based on these findings, which are expected to help the Curug Village Government strengthen their cybersecurity.

A Survey on Data-Driven Approaches for Reliability, Robustness, and Energy Efficiency in Wireless Body Area Networks

Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs) are pivotal in health care and wearable technologies, enabling seamless communication between miniature sensors and devices on or within the human body. These biosensors capture critical physiological parameters, ranging from body temperature and blood oxygen levels to real-time electrocardiogram readings. However, WBANs face significant challenges during and after deployment, including energy conservation, security, reliability, and failure vulnerability. Sensor nodes, which are often battery-operated, expend considerable energy during sensing and transmission due to inherent spatiotemporal patterns in biomedical data streams. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of data-driven approaches that address these challenges, focusing on device placement and routing, sampling rate calibration, and the application of machine learning (ML) and statistical learning techniques to enhance network performance. Additionally, we validate three existing models (statistical, ML, and coding-based models) using two real datasets, namely the MIMIC clinical database and biomarkers collected from six subjects with a prototype biosensing device developed by our team. Our findings offer insights into strategies for optimizing energy efficiency while ensuring security and reliability in WBANs. We conclude by outlining future directions to leverage approaches to meet the evolving demands of healthcare applications.

Taxonomic insights into ethereum smart contracts by linking application categories to security vulnerabilities.

The expansion of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain has created a diverse ecosystem of decentralized applications. This growth, however, poses challenges in classifying and securing these contracts. Existing research often separately addresses either classification or vulnerability detection, without a comprehensive analysis of how contract types are related to security risks. Our study addresses this gap by developing a taxonomy of smart contracts and examining the potential vulnerabilities associated with each category. We use the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to analyze a dataset of over 100,040 Ethereum smart contracts, which is notably larger than those used in previous studies. Our analysis categorizes these contracts into eleven groups, with five primary categories: Notary, Token, Game, Financial, and Blockchain interaction. This categorization sheds light on the various functions and applications of smart contracts in today's blockchain environment. In response to the growing need for better security in smart contract development, we also investigate the link between these categories and common vulnerabilities. Our results identify specific vulnerabilities associated with different contract types, providing valuable insights for developers and auditors. This relationship between contract categories and vulnerabilities is a new contribution to the field, as it has not been thoroughly explored in previous research. Our findings offer a detailed taxonomy of smart contracts and practical recommendations for enhancing security. By understanding how contract categories correlate with vulnerabilities, developers can implement more effective security measures, and auditors can better prioritize their reviews. This study advances both academic knowledge of smart contracts and practical strategies for securing decentralized applications on the Ethereum platform.

An Efficient Approach for Detection of Compromised SDN Switches and Restoration of Network Flow

In Software Defined Networking (SDN) the data plane is separated from the controller plane to achieve better functionality than the traditional networking. Although this approach poses a lot of security vulnerabilities due to its centralized approach. One significant issue is compromised SDN switches because the switches are dumb in SDN architecture and in absence of any intelligence it can be a easy target to the attackers. If one or more switches are attacked and compromised by the attackers, then the whole network might be down or defunct. Therefore, in this work we have devised a strategy to successfully detect the compromised SDN switches, isolate them and then reconstruct the whole network flow again by bypassing the compromised switches. In our proposed approach of detection, we have used two controllers, one as primary and another as secondary which is used to run and validate our algorithm in the detection process. Flow reconstruction is the next job of the secondary controller which after execution is conveyed to the primary controller. A two-controller strategy has been used to balance the additional load of detection and reconstruction activity from the master controller and thus achieved a balanced outcome in terms of running time and CPU utilization. All the propositions are validated by experimental analysis of the results and compared with existing state of the art to satisfy our claim.

Automated Security Vulnerability Backlog Management

In today’s fast-paced development environments, security vulnerabilities often emerge at the same rapid rate as code updates. Security teams and developers face challenges in addressing these vulnerabilities while maintaining operational efficiency. Managing a security backlog manually can be cumbersome, slow, and prone to human error. Automating the security vulnerability backlog allows organizations to track, prioritize, and mitigate security risks more efficiently and effectively, ensuring a secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) without sacrificing agility. This white paper outlines the need for an automated security backlog, the benefits it provides, and strategies for implementing it using modern DevSecOps tools. Keywords — Automated security backlog, vulnerability management, CI/CD, DevSecOps, risk- based prioritization, SAST, DAST, software composition analysis, continuous security, vulnerability tracking, security remediation, cybersecurity automation, security risk management

Shift-left approach for Vulnerability Management in SDLC

Security vulnerabilities in software development can lead to severe risks if not addressed promptly. By adopting a shift-left approach and implementing gating mechanisms in Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, organizations can mitigate the impact of high and critical vulnerabilities early in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). This paper discusses a practical methodology for integrating security gates into the CI/CD pipeline to prevent the release of software with critical security flaws. Keywords —Vulnerability Management, Shift-Left Security, CI/CD Pipeline, High Vulnerabilities, Critical Vulnerabilities, Security Gating, SDLC, GitLab, Automation.