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312-50V12 · Question #311

Robert, a professional hacker, is attempting to execute a fault injection attack on a target IoT device. In this process, he injects faults into the power supply that can be used for remote execution,

The correct answer is D. Power/clock/reset glitching. Robert is performing a power/clock/reset glitching attack by injecting transient faults into the IoT device's power supply and clock network to induce abnormal behavior, such as skipping instructions.

Submitted by anjalisingh· Mar 4, 2026Wireless Network, Mobile, IoT, and OT Hacking

Question

Robert, a professional hacker, is attempting to execute a fault injection attack on a target IoT device. In this process, he injects faults into the power supply that can be used for remote execution, also causing the skipping of key instructions. He also injects faults into the clock network used for delivering a synchronized signal across the chip. Which of the following types of fault injection attack is performed by Robert in the above scenario?

Options

  • AFrequency/voltage tampering
  • BOptical, electromagnetic fault injection (EMFI)
  • CTemperature attack
  • DPower/clock/reset glitching

How the community answered

(44 responses)
  • A
    9% (4)
  • B
    5% (2)
  • C
    14% (6)
  • D
    73% (32)

Why each option

Robert is performing a power/clock/reset glitching attack by injecting transient faults into the IoT device's power supply and clock network to induce abnormal behavior, such as skipping instructions.

AFrequency/voltage tampering

Frequency/voltage tampering generally refers to sustained or controlled alterations, whereas 'glitching' specifically describes transient, short-duration manipulations intended to induce faults, which is what Robert is doing to skip instructions.

BOptical, electromagnetic fault injection (EMFI)

Optical fault injection uses light (e.g., lasers), and electromagnetic fault injection (EMFI) uses electromagnetic fields to induce faults, neither of which is described as Robert's method of manipulating the power supply or clock network.

CTemperature attack

A temperature attack involves altering the device's operating temperature to exploit temperature-dependent behaviors or induce faults, which is not the method Robert used.

DPower/clock/reset glitchingCorrect

Power glitching involves manipulating the power supply voltage to induce transient faults, which can lead to instruction skipping or privilege escalation. Clock glitching involves manipulating the clock signal to disrupt the device's synchronous operations, also causing instruction skipping or unexpected execution flows. Robert's actions of injecting faults into the power supply and clock network precisely match these techniques.

Concept tested: Hardware fault injection attacks (Power/Clock Glitching)

Source: https://owasp.org/www-project-firmware-security-testing-methodology/Firmware-Security-Testing-Methodology-v1.0.pdf

Topics

#fault injection#IoT security#power glitching#clock glitching

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