Executive brief
The CubeSpace CW0057 Reaction Wheel, a component used in satellite attitude control systems, contains a vulnerability in how it verifies firmware updates. An attacker with physical access to the device could bypass security checks to install malicious software, potentially gaining full control over the hardware's operations. While this could disrupt satellite stability or missions, the device can be recovered by reloading authorized software through its independent bootloader.
Technical details
The CW0057 reaction wheel utilizes a CRC-32 integrity check for firmware updates, which ensures data consistency but fails to verify the authenticity of the firmware source (CWE-347). An attacker with direct physical access to the device can exploit this lack of cryptographic signing to upload and execute arbitrary malicious firmware without authentication. Starting with version 5.0.20, CubeSpace introduced optional cryptographic secure boot features; however, these must be manually enabled by the user to be effective. The vulnerability does not lead to permanent bricking, as the bootloader remains independent and can be used to restore legitimate firmware.
Affected products
- CubeSpace CW0057 Reaction Wheel prior to 5.0.20
Timeline
- 2026-07-02: advisory: CISA and NVD published the advisory.
- 2026-07-02: patched: Firmware version 5.0.20 released with optional secure boot.