The SMEP Attack

Abstract

Automotive switches offer management interfaces for reconfiguration via Ethernet, making these interfaces critical security targets. Authentication and key agreement are essential to protect these interfaces, yet proprietary management protocols exhibit varying levels of security. This talk presents a case study from 2022, where we discovered a severe vulnerability in a vendor’s implementation, leading to a complete breakdown of security. We will detail the vulnerability, which stemmed from an unsuitable application of textbook RSA, and explain how we’ve disclosed the vulnerability to the vendor and collaborated with them to develop a secure, fixed version of the protocol.