The High Cost of Embedded System Bugs in Software-Defined Vehicles

Key Takeaways

• Discovering embedded bugs in software-defined vehicles (SDVs) after deployment can lead to significant financial losses through recalls, warranty claims, and reputational damage.
• Cybersecurity vulnerabilities stemming from these bugs pose critical risks, potentially allowing hackers to access safety-critical functions such as braking and steering.
• Proactive bug detection, particularly through formal verification, is essential to ensuring the safety and reliability of SDVs, mitigating risks before they impact consumers and brand reputation.

The Rise of the Software-Defined Vehicle

Traditional vehicles are rapidly evolving into SDVs, where software dictates almost every aspect of vehicle behavior, features, and overall performance. This shift is characterized by:

• Centralized software architecture:Consolidating functions into fewer, more powerful computers.
• OTA update capabilities: Enabling continuous improvement and bug fixes.
• Real-time connectivity: Integrating vehicles into a broader digital ecosystem.
• Service-oriented architecture: Allowing for the delivery of new services and features throughout the vehicle's lifecycle.

Software enables the flexibility to add new features by decoupling hardware from application software. SDVs are restructuring the automotive industry at various levels, enhancing user experience and improving safety. The increasing complexity of automotive software demands mathematically precise solutions to ensure safety and compliance with standards like Automotive SPICE. 

The Hidden Dangers: Embedded Bugs in the Field

Embedded software bugs can manifest in various forms, each carrying potentially severe consequences. These include:

• Heap fragmentation:Leading to performance degradation and crashes.
• Stack overflows:Overwriting memory and causing unpredictable behavior
• Race conditions:Resulting in inconsistent data and system failures
• Memory leaks:Gradually depleting system resources and causing slowdowns.
• Integer overflows:Producing unexpected results and potential vulnerabilities.
• Use-after-free errors:Corrupting memory and leading to crashes.

Hidden bugs like heap fragmentation, stack overflows, and race conditions can cause significant issues in embedded systems.

Debugging these issues in the field presents unique challenges. Replicating the exact conditions that triggered the bug can be difficult, and access to vehicle systems might be limited. As if that weren’t enough, tracing backward from an observed crash often requires expensive tools.Finding and killing latent bugs in embedded software is a difficult business and expensive tools are often required to trace backward from an observed crash.

Then there are "Mandelbugs," complex faults that appear non-deterministic due to parallelism and concurrency in multicore systems Complex Mandelbugs increasingly gain importance as more and more complex systems are being developed and non-deterministic fault patterns will occur more frequently due to parallelism and concurrency in multicore systems. Detecting these hidden bugs before deployment is where TrustInSoft can help secure your development process, preventing costly field failures and ensuring compliance with security standards.

The Economic Impact of Field Failures

The financial consequences of software bugs found in SDVs can be staggering. Consider the costs associated with:

• Recall costs:Parts, labor, logistics – it all adds up.
• Warranty claims:Addressing customer complaints and repairs.
• Reputational damage: Loss of customer trust and brand value.
• Potential lawsuits:Legal liabilities arising from safety-critical failures.

Real-world examples abound, with automotive recalls caused by software issues costing manufacturers millions. These incidents damage brand image and erode long-term customer loyalty. TrustInSoft helps automakers avoid these costly scenarios by ensuring software reliability and security, and reducing expensive post-release debugging and security patches. This allows you to build a reputation for quality and reliability that pays dividends in the long run.

Cybersecurity Risks and Vulnerabilities

SDVs are prime targets for cyberattacks, and bugs found in the field can create significant vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers. These attacks exploit software vulnerabilities in embedded device firmware, discovered by well-crafted embedded fuzzing techniques potentially granting access to safety-critical functions like braking, steering, and acceleration. Connected services and software updates introduce further risks, making robust security measures, secure coding practices, and compliance with ISO 21434 essential.

Embedded fuzzing techniques can be used to discover vulnerabilities. TrustInSoft is committed to cybersecurity and helps automakers build secure SDVs, protecting safety-critical functions from potential hacking attacks.

Over-the-Air (OTA) Updates: A Double-Edged Sword

OTA updates offer tremendous benefits, allowing manufacturers to fix bugs and add new features without requiring physical visits to a service center. However, they also introduce potential risks:

• Security vulnerabilities: The update process itself can be a target for cyberattacks.
• Bricking vehicles: Interruptions or corrupted updates can render vehicles inoperable
• Testing and rollback: Robust testing and rollback mechanisms are crucial to mitigate risks.

Centralizing software simplifies OTA updates, but security considerations, testing procedures, and rollback mechanisms remain paramount. TrustInSoft ensures the safety and reliability of OTA updates through rigorous code verification, guaranteeing zero undefined behaviors and compliance with security standards.

Prevention is Better Than Cure: Proactive Bug Detection

The key is shifting from reactive bug fixing to proactive bug detection during the software development lifecycle. Various techniques can help prevent embedded bugs:

• Static analysis: Analyzing code without executing it.
• Formal verification: Mathematically proving the absence of certain types of bugs.
• Thorough testing and simulation: Identifying potential issues through rigorous testing.
• Adherence to coding standards: Following established guidelines like MISRA C.

Static analysis and code verification identify potential issues early in the development process, reducing expensive post-release debugging.

The Role of Formal Verification

Formal verification differs from traditional testing methods by providing a mathematical proof of the absence of certain types of bugs. This approach offers several advantages:

• Mathematical proof: Eliminating the possibility of false negatives or overlooked vulnerabilities.
• Comprehensive analysis: Examining all possible execution paths.

TrustInSoft Analyzer uses formal verification to ensure memory-safe software by detecting runtime errors, memory leaks, and vulnerabilities that other tools miss.

Compliance with Automotive Standards

Complying with automotive safety and security standards (e.g., ISO 26262, Automotive SPICE, ISO 21434) is crucial for ensuring the safety and reliability of SDVs. TrustInSoft helps automakers meet these standards by providing automated compliance reports and ensuring code quality.

The Bottom Line

Preventing embedded bugs in SDVs, especially those found in the field, is of critical importance. The economic, safety, and security risks associated with field failures are simply too high to ignore. Proactive bug detection and formal verification offer a path toward building safer, more reliable vehicles.

Automakers should adopt robust software development and testing practices, including formal verification, to ensure the safety and reliability of their SDVs and avoid recalls and reputational damage. Contact us to see how TrustInSoft can help you achieve safe, secure, and reliable vehicles.