Date Fri 02 August 2019
Authors Philippe Teuwen, Christian Heitman, Laurent Grémy
Category Blockchain

Quarkslab's team performed a cryptographic and security assessment of the Monero Research Lab’s new Proof-of-Work algorithm, called RandomX [1]. RandomX is a proof-of-work algorithm that is optimized for general-purpose CPUs. RandomX uses random code execution together with several memory-hard techniques to minimize the efficiency advantage of specialized hardware. We only found minor inconsistencies and formulated a few recommendations. These recommendations are mainly relevant when using alternative configurations but they are of less importance with the current configuration and usage of RandomX. The full report of the assessment can be found at the following address: [2]

Date Mon 15 July 2019
Author Francisco Falcon
Category Exploitation

On September 2018, FreeBSD published the security advisory FreeBSD-SA-18:12, fixing a kernel memory disclosure vulnerability affecting all the supported versions of this operating system.

Date Fri 05 July 2019
Authors Lucas Barthelemy, Maxime Peterlin
Category Blockchain

Quarkslab's team performed a cryptographic and security assessment of both the Bulletproof and MLSAG protocols in Particl. Bulletproof is a non-interactive zero-knowledge proof protocol, while MLSAG is a new ring signature protocol. Both are to be used in cryptocurrency transactions to ensure that they do not leak the amount exchanged or the exact identity of the buyers. Both implementations were found sound and conform to their respective reference papers [BBBPWM18] [SN15]. The full report of the assessment can be found at the following address: [2]

Date Tue 18 June 2019
Author Francesco Cagnin
Category Kernel Debugging

This is the second of two blog posts about macOS kernel debugging. In the previous post, we defined most of the terminology used in both articles, described how kernel debugging is implemented for the macOS kernel and discussed the limitations of the available tools; here, we present LLDBagility, our solution for an easier and more functional macOS debugging experience.

Date Mon 03 June 2019
Author Romain Thomas
Category Android

This blog post deals with QBDI and how it can be used to reverse an Android JNI library

Date Thu 16 May 2019
Authors Tom Czayka, Romain Thomas
Category Android

This blog post is about detecting modifications between genuine and repackaged applications.

Date Tue 07 May 2019
Author Francesco Cagnin
Category Kernel Debugging

This is the first of two blog posts about macOS kernel debugging. Here, we introduce what kernel debugging is, explain how it is implemented for the macOS kernel and discuss the limitations that come with it; in the second post, we will present our solution for a better macOS debugging experience.

Date Thu 02 May 2019
Author Tom Czayka
Category Android

This blog post is about examining an Android security patch and understanding how it mitigates the vulnerability.

Date Mon 29 April 2019
Author Guillaume Heilles
Category Hardware

In this article we describe how we created a low cost training Electronic Control Unit (ECU) that can be attacked at will, without damaging a real car. The whole project is open-source on Quarkslab's github page.

Date Wed 24 April 2019
Authors Tom Czayka, Romain Thomas
Category Android

This blog post is about how to efficiently spot code mutations between distinct versions of an Android application.