Detection of unauthorized modifications to source code in a software repository used to develop or update spacecraft software, indicating potential code injection or manipulation in the supply chain to introduce malicious functionality.
| ID | Name | Description | |
| IA-0001 | Compromise Supply Chain | Adversaries achieve first execution before the spacecraft ever flies by inserting malicious code, data, or configuration during manufacturing, integration, or delivery. Targets include software sources and dependencies, build systems and compilers, firmware/bitstreams for MCUs and FPGAs, configuration tables, test vectors, and off-the-shelf avionics. Inserted artifacts are designed to appear legitimate, propagate through normal processes, and activate under routine procedures or specific modes (e.g., safing, maintenance). Common insertion points align with where trust is assumed, vendor updates, mirrors and registries, CI/CD runners, programming stations, and “golden image” repositories. The result is pre-positioned access that blends with baseline behavior, often with delayed or conditional triggers and strong deniability. | |
| IA-0001.01 | Software Dependencies & Development Tools | This technique targets what developers import and the tools that transform source into flight binaries. Methods include dependency confusion and typosquatting, poisoned container/base images, malicious IDE plugins, and compromised compilers, linkers, or build runners that subtly alter output. Because flight and ground stacks frequently reuse open-source RTOS components, crypto libraries, protocol parsers, and build scripts, an upstream change can deterministically reproduce a backdoor downstream. Attackers also seed private mirrors or caches so “trust-on-first-use” locks in tainted packages, or abuse CI secrets and environment variables to pivot further. Effects range from inserting covert handlers into command parsers, to weakening integrity checks in update paths, to embedding telemetry beacons that exfiltrate build metadata helpful for later stages. | |
| IA-0001.02 | Software Supply Chain | Here the manipulation targets software delivered to flight or ground systems: altering source before build, swapping signed binaries at distribution edges, subverting update metadata, or using stolen signing keys to issue malicious patches. Space-specific vectors include mission control applications, schedulers, gateway services, flight tables and configuration packages, and firmware loads during I&T or LEOP. Adversaries craft payloads that pass superficial validation, trigger under particular operating modes, or reintroduce known weaknesses through version rollback. “Data payloads” such as malformed tables, ephemerides, or calibration products can double as exploits when parsers are permissive. The objective is to ride the normal promotion pipeline so the implant arrives pre-trusted and executes as part of routine operations. | |
| EXF-0008 | Compromised Developer Site | By breaching development or integration environments (at the mission owner, contractor, or partner), the adversary gains access to source code, test vectors, telemetry captures, build artifacts, documentation, and configuration data, material that is often more complete than flight archives. Beyond theft of intellectual property, the attacker can embed telemetry taps, extended logging, or data “export” features into test harnesses, simulators, or flight builds so that, once fielded, the system produces extra observables or forwards content to non-mission endpoints. This activity typically occurs pre-launch during software production and ATLO, positioning exfiltration mechanisms to activate later in flight. | |