Baseband Attack Flow

Interactive visualization of baseband attack chains showing how vulnerabilities can be combined for sophisticated attacks

Remote Baseband Exploitation Chain

This attack chain demonstrates how an attacker can remotely compromise a mobile device by exploiting baseband vulnerabilities.

Reconnaissance

The attacker identifies the target device model and baseband processor version.

Using passive monitoring with software-defined radio, the attacker captures cellular signaling messages to identify the target device's baseband type and version based on unique protocol implementation characteristics.

Rogue Base Station Setup

The attacker sets up a rogue base station to force the target device to connect.

Using SDR hardware and open-source cellular stack implementations, the attacker creates a rogue base station with a stronger signal than legitimate towers, causing the target device to connect to it.

Downgrade Attack

The attacker forces the device to use older, less secure cellular protocols.

The rogue base station advertises only 2G/3G capabilities, forcing the device to connect using these older protocols which have weaker security and known vulnerabilities.

Vulnerability Exploitation

The attacker exploits a memory corruption vulnerability in the baseband's protocol stack.

The attacker sends specially crafted cellular protocol messages that trigger a buffer overflow in the baseband's message parsing code, allowing arbitrary code execution on the baseband processor.

Baseband-to-AP Privilege Escalation

The compromised baseband is used to attack the application processor.

The attacker uses the compromised baseband to exploit vulnerabilities in the baseband-to-application processor interface, gaining code execution on the main OS with elevated privileges.

Data Exfiltration

The attacker extracts sensitive data from the compromised device.

With full device access, the attacker extracts authentication tokens, encryption keys, messages, and other sensitive data, exfiltrating it through the cellular connection to avoid detection by Wi-Fi monitoring.

Attack Chain Visualization

Attack Simulation

This simulation demonstrates how a real-world baseband attack would progress through multiple stages, from initial reconnaissance to data exfiltration.

Mitigation Strategies

Protect against baseband attack chains with these comprehensive mitigation strategies:

Keep baseband firmware updated with the latest security patches
Use devices with hardware isolation between baseband and application processors
Enable LTE-only mode when available to prevent 2G/3G downgrade attacks
Use end-to-end encrypted communication apps instead of standard calls/SMS
Consider RF shielding cases when in high-risk environments
Monitor for unexpected baseband activity or crashes

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