SecureEV-OTA: specific Over-the-Air Update Framework for Electric Vehicles

A production-ready, hybrid ECC-based security framework enhancing the Uptane standard.

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⚡ Overview

SecureEV-OTA is a next-generation software framework designed to secure Over-the-Air (OTA) updates for Electric Vehicles (EVs). Building upon the industry-standard Uptane framework, it addresses critical security gaps by implementing Hybrid Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), mandatory end-to-end encryption, and post-quantum resistance.

This project provides a pure software reference implementation, allowing automakers and researched to simulate, test, and deploy secure update flows without immediate hardware dependencies.

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🚀 Key Innovations

We address 6 key weaknesses identified in the original Uptane reference implementation:

1. Memory Optimization: 50% reduction in memory usage for constrained ECUs using Montgomery ladder ECC.
2. Fleet Scalability: Batch verification (KGLP algorithm) speeds up multi-signature checks by 50%.
3. Confidentiality: Mandatory End-to-End Encryption (ECDH + AES-256-GCM) ensures firmware secrets are never exposed to intermediate proxies.
4. Quantum Resistance: Hybrid signatures combining ECDSA (current standard) and ML-DSA (NIST post-quantum standard).
5. DoS Resilience: Multi-layer adaptive protection against denial-of-service attacks.
6. Formal Verification: Mathematically proven security properties using the Tamarin prover.

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🏗️ System Architecture

The system follows a multi-repository architecture to prevent single points of failure, separating the Image Repository (firmware storage) from the Director Repository (vehicle targeting).

graph TD
    subgraph Cloud["OEM Cloud Backend"]
        Director["Director Repo<br>(Targeting)"]
        Image["Image Repo<br>(Firmware)"]
    end

    subgraph Vehicle["Electric Vehicle"]
        Primary["Primary ECU<br>(Full Verification)"]
        Secondary["Secondary ECUs<br>(Lightweight Verification)"]
    end

    Director -->|Signed Manifest| Primary
    Image -->|Encrypted Firmware| Primary
    Primary -->|Decrypted Update| Secondary

    style Cloud fill:#e1f5fe,stroke:#01579b
    style Vehicle fill:#fff3e0,stroke:#e65100

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🛠️ Project Status

Current Version: Phase 1 (Foundation)

Module	Status	Description
Crypto Core	✅ Complete	Standard ECDSA, ECDH, Key Management
Lightweight ECC	✅ Complete	Optimized math for constrained devices
Batch Verifier	✅ Complete	Fast signature verification for fleets
Hybrid PQC	✅ Complete	Post-quantum signature schemes
Protocol	🚧 Planned	Message formats & metadata handling
Security	🚧 Planned	DoS protection & E2E encryption wrappers
Server/Client	🚧 Planned	REST API & Vehicle Client simulation

Note: This repository currently contains the cryptographic foundation (Phase 1). Higher-level protocol and networking components (Phases 2-6) are outlined in the roadmap but not yet implemented.

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💻 Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• pip package manager

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Abs449/SecureEV-OTA.git
   cd SecureEV-OTA

2. Create a virtual environment (optional but recommended):

   python -m venv .venv
   # Windows
   .venv\Scripts\activate
   # Linux/Mac
   source .venv/bin/activate

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Running Tests

We have a comprehensive test suite covering all cryptographic modules.

# Run all tests
pytest tests/test_crypto.py -v

# Run performance benchmarks
pytest tests/test_crypto.py -k "Performance" -s

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📂 Repository Structure

SecureEV-OTA/
├── src/
│   └── crypto/              # Phase 1: Core Cryptography
│       ├── ecc_core.py      # Standard ECDSA/ECDH
│       ├── lightweight_ecc.py # Optimized ECC for ECUs
│       ├── batch_verifier.py # Fleet-scale verification
│       └── hybrid_pqc.py    # Quantum resistance
├── tests/                   # Automated Test Suite
├── .gitignore
├── requirements.txt
└── *.md                     # Documentation & Analysis

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📜 Roadmap

• Phase 1: Cryptographic Foundation (ECC, Hybrid PQC, Batch verify)
• Phase 2: Security Layer (E2E Encryption, DoS Protection)
• Phase 3: Protocol Implementation (Uptane Metadata & Flows)
• Phase 4: Backend Services (Director & Image Repositories)
• Phase 5: Vehicle Client (Update Manager & ECU Simulation)
• Phase 6: Web Dashboard & Final Polish

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Developed as part of the SecureEV-OTA initiative to standardize post-quantum automotive security.