Frederic published a blogpost on reversing the `USB stack of the Exynos BootROM <https://fredericb.info/2020/06/reverse-engineer-usb-stack-of-exynos-bootrom.html#reverse-engineer-usb-stack-of-exynos-bootrom>`_ and a blogpost on exploiting the `Exynos 8890 BootROM <https://fredericb.info/2020/06/exynos-usbdl-unsigned-code-loader-for-exynos-bootrom.html#exynos-usbdl-unsigned-code-loader-for-exynos-bootrom>`_. Here we will discuss the exploit in more detail.
The bootRom is the first code that runs on the Exynos SoC. It is responsible for initializing the hardware and loading the first stage bootloader from storage. The BootROM is stored in a read-only memory and cannot be modified (making vulnerabilities in this permanent/non-patcheable). The BootROM is responsible for initializing the USB controller and receiving the first stage bootloader from the USB host. It will be waiting for a package in the following format (dldata == download data):
The size in the packet is the total size of the packet, including header and footer. If we modify this, we will have a payload size of around 502 bytes.
The Exynos 8890 uses the Synopsys DesignWare USB 3.0 controller. Much of the code is shared with the DWC3 driver in the Linux kernel, except that the ROM does not do any scheduling and a lot of features have been removed(OTG handling, etc).
The base address of the usb controller (dwusb3) is mapped at 0x1540000, with a size of 0x10000: (can be found at: `Exynos8890 dtsi <https://github.com/LineageOS/android_kernel_samsung_universal8890/tree/lineage-18.1/arch/arm64/boot/dts>`_).
This is a basic USB controller, but some functions, that are also present in the linux kernel, should be visible in the bootROM as well. Available functions could be: `linux-kernel-dwc3 <https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/msm/+/android-msm-dory-3.10-kitkat-wear/drivers/usb/dwc3/core.h>`_.
The USB host sends a USB_REQ_SET_ADDRESS, `'0x05' <https://asf.microchip.com/docs/latest/common.services.usb.class.composite.device.example.hidms_msc.saml21_xplained_pro/html/group__usb__protocol__group.html>`_, which the connected device has to acknowledge, and will then start sending data to this address. Initially, the device will send data to '0x00'.
..code:: c
usb_reqid {
USB_REQ_GET_STATUS = 0,
USB_REQ_CLEAR_FEATURE = 1,
USB_REQ_SET_FEATURE = 3,
USB_REQ_SET_ADDRESS = 5,
USB_REQ_GET_DESCRIPTOR = 6,
USB_REQ_SET_DESCRIPTOR = 7,
USB_REQ_GET_CONFIGURATION = 8,
USB_REQ_SET_CONFIGURATION = 9,
USB_REQ_GET_INTERFACE = 10,
USB_REQ_SET_INTERFACE = 11,
USB_REQ_SYNCH_FRAME = 12
}
Ghidra shows `DWC3_DCFG & 0xfffffc00 | DWC3_DCFG & 7 | (param_1 & 0x7f) << 3;`, essentially preserves bits 0-2 and 10-31, and sets bits 3-9 to the value of param_1, which is then likely the address of the device.
Other general device descriptors are also sent from the device to the host (to describe the device), these are visible in/at 'usb_init_device_descriptor' (6098) and usb_init_descriptors (610c). Two end point addresses are visible: bEndpointAddress 0x81 and 0x02. 0x81 is 10000001 in binary, with bit 7 being '1', which means that the bulk transfer direction is IN. 0x02 is 00000010 in binary, with bit '7' being '0', which means that the bulk transfer direction is OUT.
Data is transferred via Transfer Request Blocks (TRB), dwc3_depcmd_starttransfer is used. The TRB then contains a buffer address, where transferred data from the host is written to. The buffer allocation is done by 'usb_setup_event_buffer', which sets bufferHigh (DWC3_GEVNTADRLO), bufferLow (DWC3_GEVNTADRHI) and bufferSize (DWC3_GEVNTSIZ).
Originally described in this `blogpost <https://fredericb.info/2020/06/exynos-usbdl-unsigned-code-loader-for-exynos-bootrom.html#exynos-usbdl-unsigned-code-loader-for-exynos-bootrom>`_. Our if-statement is written a bit different, but boils down to the same thing.
The exynos bootrom uses a simple USB protocol to receive a bootloader binary from a USB host. The binary sent is called 'dldata'. In Ghidra, at 21518, we can see that it consists of unit32_t: ready?, uint32: size, ? : data, uint16: footer. The contents of this data are checked before being being written.
In essence, the payload is not allowed to be larger than 0x206fff (34013183), it checks so with 2 seperate checks
1) In the first condition, the size has to be smaller than 0x206ffff (`pdVar1->size < 0x206ffff`) (34013183 in decimal),
2) and in the second condition, it checks whether 0x206ffff is indeed still less than the size of the payload + remaining (size + remaining)(`0x206ffff < pdVar1->size + remaining`).
If both conditions are met, the payload will NOT be loaded. But this makes sense, as both checks just ensure that the payload is not larger than 0x206ffff.
The bug is however, that the check that the check is done on a uint32_t (2^32 = 4294967296), but the max value that can be checked by a uint32 is 0xFDFDE7FF = 4294967295. So a value of 0xFDFDE7FF + 1 = 0xFDFDE800 = 4294967296, which is larger than the max value of a uint32. So if a payload of this size or more is used, which is much larger than the max requested value 0x206ffff, the check will pass and the payload will still be loaded.
Sending such large amounts of data can cause a memory overflow, and will cause the target to crash. Not interesting for exploitation in this context. However, the USB packages that are sent, are split into smaller packages with a size of 0xFFFE00.
The max allowed chunk size, after which the payload is split.
The dl_buf pointer is set to the amount it expects to write, instead to the amount that it has written. By transferring a large amount of data, without actually writing it (so in a package, send no data, but tell the target that you're sending data with a length larger than 0xFDFDE800), will cause the pointer to move, without actually writing data.
The trick then becomes, to get the pointer to an address we would like to exploit unto. Then we have a little less than 512 bytes (502 according to dldata) to write our payload.
