Ground Control to Major Threat: Hacking the Space Link Extension Protocol

In my analysis, I highlight that while space missions often focus on direct communication and spacecraft access vulnerabilities, a more practical threat comes from exploiting Ground Segment flaws due to their complex and custom-made nature. I delve into the security concerns of the Space Link Extension (SLE) protocol, which is crucial for mission data and ground station communication, and show how malicious actors can leverage this to execute Denial of Service attacks or intercept communications. To address these issues, I propose a mitigation strategy for the SLE protocol and outline future research directions to enhance security in space missions.

This security research was originally published at VisionSpace Blog