RP2350 Secure Debug Bypass via PEM and Laser Fault Injection

Arxiv pdf 2026-11-01T00:00:00
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Abstract

Fault-resistant policy storage does not guarantee fault-resistant enforcement. We demonstrated this distinction on the RP2350A4 using differential photon-emission microscopy (PEM) and laser fault injection (LFI). PEM narrowed the area for laser scanning, which found two sites where pulses set the DEBUGEN bits enabling core 1 Secure debug. An online attack sequence using only Serial Wire Debug (SWD) feedback restored sustained access. After rescue reset, the sequence recovered a 128-bit test secret. This reset reloads the secrets runtime page lock from a stored policy that permits Secure reads and prevents user firmware from tightening the lock.

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