Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack

Sanjoy Baruah; Pontus Ekberg; Mehdi Hosseinzadeh; Ao Li; Bryan Ward; Ning Zhang

doi:10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015

Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack

Sanjoy Baruah, Pontus Ekberg, Mehdi Hosseinzadeh, Ao Li, Bryan Ward, Ning Zhang

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Butterfly Attack, introduced in an RTSS 2019 paper, was billed as a new kind of timing attack against control loops in cyber-physical systems. We conduct a close inspection of the Butterfly Attack in order to identify the root vulnerability that it exploits, and show that an appropriate application of real-time scheduling theory provides an effective countermeasure. We propose improved defenses against this and similar attacks by drawing upon techniques from real-time scheduling theory, control theory, and systems implementation, that are both provably secure and are able to make efficient use of computing resources.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages	53-63
Number of pages	11
ISBN (Electronic)	9798350328578
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015
State	Published - 2023
Event	44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023 - Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China Duration: Dec 5 2023 → Dec 8 2023

Publication series

Name	Proceedings - Real-Time Systems Symposium
ISSN (Print)	1052-8725

Conference

Conference	44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023
Country/Territory	Taiwan, Province of China
City	Taipei
Period	12/5/23 → 12/8/23

Keywords

CPS security
attack mitigation
real-time control
real-time scheduling

Access to Document

10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015

Cite this

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title = "Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack",

abstract = "The Butterfly Attack, introduced in an RTSS 2019 paper, was billed as a new kind of timing attack against control loops in cyber-physical systems. We conduct a close inspection of the Butterfly Attack in order to identify the root vulnerability that it exploits, and show that an appropriate application of real-time scheduling theory provides an effective countermeasure. We propose improved defenses against this and similar attacks by drawing upon techniques from real-time scheduling theory, control theory, and systems implementation, that are both provably secure and are able to make efficient use of computing resources.",

keywords = "CPS security, attack mitigation, real-time control, real-time scheduling",

author = "Sanjoy Baruah and Pontus Ekberg and Mehdi Hosseinzadeh and Ao Li and Bryan Ward and Ning Zhang",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 IEEE.; 44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023 ; Conference date: 05-12-2023 Through 08-12-2023",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015",

language = "English",

series = "Proceedings - Real-Time Systems Symposium",

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pages = "53--63",

booktitle = "44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023",

}

Baruah, S, Ekberg, P, Hosseinzadeh, M, Li, A, Ward, B & Zhang, N 2023, Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack. in 44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023. Proceedings - Real-Time Systems Symposium, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., pp. 53-63, 44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023, Taipei, Taiwan, Province of China, 12/5/23. https://doi.org/10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015

Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack. / Baruah, Sanjoy; Ekberg, Pontus; Hosseinzadeh, Mehdi et al.
44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2023. p. 53-63 (Proceedings - Real-Time Systems Symposium).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack

AU - Baruah, Sanjoy

AU - Ekberg, Pontus

AU - Hosseinzadeh, Mehdi

AU - Li, Ao

AU - Ward, Bryan

AU - Zhang, Ning

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - The Butterfly Attack, introduced in an RTSS 2019 paper, was billed as a new kind of timing attack against control loops in cyber-physical systems. We conduct a close inspection of the Butterfly Attack in order to identify the root vulnerability that it exploits, and show that an appropriate application of real-time scheduling theory provides an effective countermeasure. We propose improved defenses against this and similar attacks by drawing upon techniques from real-time scheduling theory, control theory, and systems implementation, that are both provably secure and are able to make efficient use of computing resources.

AB - The Butterfly Attack, introduced in an RTSS 2019 paper, was billed as a new kind of timing attack against control loops in cyber-physical systems. We conduct a close inspection of the Butterfly Attack in order to identify the root vulnerability that it exploits, and show that an appropriate application of real-time scheduling theory provides an effective countermeasure. We propose improved defenses against this and similar attacks by drawing upon techniques from real-time scheduling theory, control theory, and systems implementation, that are both provably secure and are able to make efficient use of computing resources.

KW - CPS security

KW - attack mitigation

KW - real-time control

KW - real-time scheduling

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U2 - 10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015

DO - 10.1109/RTSS59052.2023.00015

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85185345783

T3 - Proceedings - Real-Time Systems Symposium

SP - 53

EP - 63

BT - 44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023

PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

T2 - 44th IEEE Real-Time Systems Symposium, RTSS 2023

Y2 - 5 December 2023 through 8 December 2023

ER -

Who's Afraid of Butterflies? A Close Examination of the Butterfly Attack

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Keywords

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