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Securing LLM-Generated Embedded Firmware through AI Agent-Driven Validation and Patching

Created by
  • Haebom

Author

Seyed Moein Abtahi, Akramul Azim

Outline

This paper proposes a three-step methodology for leveraging LLM to generate firmware for embedded systems. LLM (e.g., GPT-4) is used to generate firmware for networking and control tasks using structured prompts, and it is deployed to FreeRTOS via QEMU. Vulnerabilities such as buffer overflows (CWE-120), race conditions (CWE-362), and denial-of-service attacks (CWE-400) are detected through fuzzing, static analysis, and runtime monitoring. A specialized AI agent for threat detection, performance optimization, and compliance verification enhances detection and remediation. CWEs are used to classify identified issues and guide LLM-based patch generation in an iterative loop. Experimental results demonstrate a 92.4% vulnerability fix rate (37.3% improvement), a 95.8% threat model compliance rate, and a security coverage index of 0.87. The worst-case execution time was measured at 8.6 ms, and the jitter was 195 μs. This study also provides an open-source dataset.

Takeaways, Limitations

Takeaways:
Demonstrates the potential for improved safety and performance in embedded system firmware development using LLM.
Effectively address vulnerabilities through automated security verification and iterative remediation processes.
We anticipate that this open-source dataset will stimulate follow-up research.
Achieved performance levels applicable to real systems (8.6ms worst-case execution time, 195μs jitter).
Limitations:
Further research is needed to determine the generality of the proposed methodology and its applicability to various embedded system environments.
Due to the limitations of LLM, there is a possibility of unexpected errors occurring.
Limitations in detection of other types of vulnerabilities due to focus on specific CWEs.
Further validation of long-term stability and reliability in real-world environments is needed.
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