Wirelessly updating field programmable gate arrays upon detection of hardware vulnerability
AssigneeGoldman, Sachs & Co.
InventorMichael Mattioli
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mechanism for wirelessly updating an FPGA that is built into a wireless mobile or another wireless electronic device is described herein. The wireless update may be performed responsive to detecting a hardware vulnerability or another hardware issue in the mobile device. When the hardware vulnerability or another hardware issue is detected, the mechanism may identify a fix for the hardware vulnerability. A fix may be a particular FPGA configuration update known to fix the issue. The configuration update to the FPGA is received and the current FPGA configuration is overwritten with data from the configuration update. A determination is made that the hardware vulnerability no longer exists.
Claims17
A method for wirelessly updating field-programmable gate arrays, the method comprising:
- retrieving a plurality of state codes generated by a plurality of hardware devices included in a mobile device that includes a field-programmable gate array (FPGA);
- comparing each of the plurality of generated state codes to state codes included in a list of state codes, each of the state codes included in the list of state codes associated with a corresponding hardware vulnerability;
- responsive to one of the plurality of generated state codes matching one of the state codes included in the list of state codes, detecting a hardware vulnerability in the mobile device, the hardware vulnerability associated with the matching state code included in the list of state codes;
- identifying a configuration update to the FPGA, the configuration update configured to fix the hardware vulnerability;
- transmitting, to a server, a request for the configuration update for the FPGA;
- receiving, from the server, the configuration update to the FPGA;
- and
- overwriting a current FPGA configuration with data from the configuration update.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising memory with instructions encoded thereon for wirelessly updating field-programmable gate arrays, the instructions when executed cause one or more processors to perform operations including:
- retrieving a plurality of state codes generated by a plurality of hardware devices included in a mobile device that includes a field-programmable gate array (FPGA);
- comparing each of the plurality of generated state codes to state codes included in a list of state codes, each of the state codes included in the list of state codes associated with a corresponding hardware vulnerability;
- responsive to one of the plurality of generated state codes matching one of the state codes included in the list of state codes, detecting a hardware vulnerability in the mobile device, the hardware vulnerability associated with the matching state code included in the list of state codes;
- identifying a configuration update to the FPGA, the configuration update configured to fix the hardware vulnerability;
- transmitting, to a server, a request for the configuration update for the FPGA;
- receiving, from the server, the configuration update to the FPGA;
- and
- overwriting a current FPGA configuration with data from the configuration update.
A mobile device comprising:
- a field-programmable gate array (FPGA);
- memory including instructions;
- and
- one or more processors configured to execute the instructions, the instructions when execute cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
- retrieving a plurality of state codes generated by a plurality of hardware devices included in the mobile device;
- comparing each of the plurality of generated state codes to state codes included in a list of state codes, each of the state codes included in the list of state codes associated with a corresponding hardware vulnerability;
- responsive to one of the plurality of generated state codes matching one of the state codes included in the list of state codes, detecting a hardware vulnerability in the mobile device, the hardware vulnerability associated with the matching state code included in the list of state codes;
- identifying a configuration update to the FPGA, the configuration update configured to fix the hardware vulnerability;
- transmitting, to a server, a request for the configuration update for the FPGA;
- receiving, from the server, the configuration update to the FPGA;
- and
- overwriting a current FPGA configuration with data from the configuration update.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.