The Ingenic T41, and probably also T32, T40, and A1 SoC boot ROMs parse and execute an attacker-controlled init table from the SPL header before checking the secure boot state and before invoking signature verification

Overview

The Ingenic T41, and probably also T32, T40, and A1 SoC boot ROMs parse and execute an attacker-controlled init table from the SPL header before checking the secure boot state and before invoking signature verification. The init table parser supports full-address 32-bit write operations, allowing modification of SRAM-resident secure boot state prior to the verification decision. An attacker with physical write access to boot media can inject an init-table entry that disables the secure boot check, causing the ROM to accept unsigned or modified first-stage boot code. This has been hardware-validated on a secureboot-enabled T41 device; ROM analysis confirms closely related behavior on T32, T40, and A1.

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.