Exploit Hardware/Firmware Corruption: Malicious Use of Hardware Commands

ID Name
ATAGS-T1048.001 Design Flaws
ATAGS-T1048.002 Malicious Use of Hardware Commands

Threat actors may utilize various hardware commands and perform malicious activities with them. Hardware commands typically differ from traditional command channels as they bypass many of the traditional protections and pathways and are more direct therefore they can be dangerous if not protected. Hardware commands are sometime a necessity to perform various actions such as configuring sensors, adjusting positions, and rotating internal motors. Threat actors may use these commands to perform malicious activities that can damage the victim spacecraft in some capacity.

ID: ATAGS-T1048.002
Sub-technique of:  ATAGS-T1048
Tactic: Execution
Targeted Components: Hardware
Responsibility: Provider
Created: 18 April 2026
Last Modified: 18 April 2026

Mitigations

This type of attack technique cannot be easily mitigated with preventive controls since it is based on the abuse of system features.