Foundations of Firmware Security

Hi,
Just to make sure there is no confusion: The first (control) target is BLE_GAP of mbed-os (which you had to build as part of your homework).

To make your life easier and enable fuzzing, we have provided two patches that you should apply (see https://cms.cispa.saarland/firmwaresec_ss_26/materials/)

If it helps, you could look at:

https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os-exam ... nt/BLE_GAP

https://github.com/ARMmbed/mbed-os

https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v6.16/ ... s/use.html

For those who could not do the homework, where you built the BLE GAP: Clone the BLE_GAP example from the BLE GAP repo. Initialize the project with mbed-tools, which will automatically clone the required submodules, including the mbed-os repository. Apply the above-mentioned patches directly to the main mbed-os repository within your project directory.

Hi,

Since some people missed the key submission deadline, we reopened it until Sunday evening. To the people that have already submitted their keys, please do not change them. They will stay the same. For anyone who not yet submitted any key, you have time until Sunday evening and then we will provide you the VM.
Please note, that the final deadline for the exam will stay the same even if you submitted your key late.
We assume that you know how SSH works by now, if not, please refrain from asking us and figure it out yourself.

Hello,

This lecture is coming to an end, and the final project that serves as the exam will be announced during tomorrow’s lecture, so make sure to attend.

For the final project, we provide you with a virtual machine that you work on. Please ensure that you submit your SSH public key through the appropriate submission.

The remaining exercise sheets will be graded by Monday.

-Ulysse

Hi Everyone,
It is that magical time of the semester: the course evaluation! This is your opportunity to tell us what you liked, what you hated, and what made you question your enrollment decision :-)

We promise to read every single response, and then store your feedback safely in /dev/null (Kidding, Mostly)

 

Would appreciate your feedback:

https://cms.cispa.saarland/firmwaresec_ss_26/2/Course_Evaluation

 

Thanks for surviving the course so far!

Cheers,

Ali

Hi,

This is a reminder that this week's tutorial and lecture will be held at a different location.

You were informed about this change last month:

 

Tutorial: Start: 13:00 c.t. CISPA D1 – Room 0.15 (Event Room) Kaiserstraße 21, 66386 St. Ingbert

Lecture: Start: 13:15 c.t. CISPA D1 – Room 0.15 (Event Room) Kaiserstraße 21, 66386 St. Ingbert

 

Cheers,

Ali

 

Hi,

Due to politicians visiting CISPA on June 2nd and 3rd, the CISPA building will be closed to the public. Unfortunately, we have been informed that we need to move the course to another location. To make matters worse, the Computer Science department is also unable to provide a room large enough for all students. As a result, for this specific week, the tutorial and lecture will move from the CISPA C0 building on campus to CISPA's D1 building in St. Ingbert. Additionally, the lecture (but not the tutorial) will start 15 minutes late: at 13:15 c.t. instead of 13:00 c.t.

The address and room details are below:

Tutorial: Start: 13:00 c.t. CISPA D1 – Room 0.15 (Event Room) Kaiserstraße 21, 66386 St. Ingbert

Lecture: Start: 13:15 c.t. CISPA D1 – Room 0.15 (Event Room) Kaiserstraße 21, 66386 St. Ingbert

There is a bus running every 30 minutes from the university campus to St. Ingbert. We apologize for the inconvenience; this was entirely outside of our control.

Cheers,

Ali

Hi,

 

For the next exercise (side-channel exercise), you need a board to work with. We will give you the boards in class tomorrow. Please make sure that you attend the class and bring your student ID with you.

If you cannot attend tomorrow's lecture, you can pick it up from my office. But before coming to the office, write me an email.

 

Pouya

Hi, 

We have been informed by CISPA that we need to change the location of the tutorial and the time of our lecture next week. 

To this end, this is gonna be the changes:

 

Tutorial: Room: HS001 Building: E1.3 Day: Tuesday, 05.05.2026 Time: 9 am – 11am Tutorial: Foundations of Firmware Security

Lecture: Room: HS002 Gebäude: E1.3 Day: Wednesday, 06.05.2026 Time: 9 am – 11am Lecture: Foundations of Firmware Security

 

Unfortunately, as you can see, we have to change our location next week, and for the lecture specifically, we even have to change the time, as the university cannot provide a suitable lecture hall at our usual time. 

As a result, we don't have any option but to move forward with this change. 

 

Cheers,

Ali

Hey everyone,

we hope you're all settling into the semester well!

The first tutorial sessions are coming up, so it’s time to choose your preferred slot. We’ll have three options on Tuesdays:

• 09:00–11:00

• 13:00–15:00

• 15:00–17:00

This schedule will remain the same for the following dates:

• April 14th

• April 21st

• April 28th

Each slot has limited capacity, so if one works best for your schedule, make sure to sign up early.

Registration is open from now until Monday, April 13th at 16:00.

Looking forward to seeing you in the tutorials!