In the modern landscape of embedded software development, efficiency and safety are paramount. As applications become more complex and demands on performance and security increase, developers turn to every tool in their arsenal to meet these challenges. Enter std::uintptr_t, a data type that, while not new, is sadly overlooked in most embedded codebases. This guide aims to introduce std::uintptr_t, showcasing its benefits and demonstrating how to use it effectively in your projects. This arti...| Sticky Bits - Powered by Feabhas
BlackHat Europe 2022 During the first week of December, I had the pleasure of attending a training course at BlackHat Europe 2022 titled Assessing and Exploiting Control Systems and IIoT run by Justin Searle. Part of the course involved Assessing and Exploiting Embedded Firmware by reading on-chip Flash using OpenOCD. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to finish the last labs during the training (we ran 9 am-6 pm each day). So I decided to follow along with the very comprehensive notes [...]| Sticky Bits - Powered by Feabhas
Dynamic polymorphism (virtual functions) is central to Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). Used well, it provides hooks into an existing codebase where new functionality and behaviour can (relatively) easily be integrated into a proven, tested codebase. Subtype inheritance can bring significant benefits, including easier integration, reduced regression test time and improved maintenance. However, using virtual functions in C++ brings a runtime performance overhead. This overhead may appear inc...| Sticky Bits - Powered by Feabhas
Creating a flash image The primary purpose of the ihex file in the embedded space is to create a file that is used to program/reprogram a target system. There are various file formats around, with the Intel Hex (ihex) format being among the most widely used. The output of the linker stage of a build process is typically to generate a .elf file (Executable and Linkable Format). Many debuggers and programmers can work directly with the ELF file format. However, in many [...]| Sticky Bits - Powered by Feabhas
