Security Recovery Core (SRC)

Official Website: https://security-recovery-core.droploot.org/

Wiki Security Recovery Core Wiki

Documents Security Recovery Core Documentents

Discord https://discord.com/invite/recoverysrc

Hardware-Assisted, Unbrickable, Pre-OS Firmware Recovery

Overview

Security Recovery Core (SRC) is an advanced, hardware-assisted system engineered to deliver fail-safe firmware recovery and tamper-resistant protection for a wide variety of computing devices and architectures. The system operates at the lowest system level—well before BIOS/UEFI initialization—detecting, blocking, and repairing firmware corruption, accidental flashing errors, or firmware-targeted attacks. All recovery actions are performed with full preservation of user data, operating system, and system configuration.

SRC ensures that your system is truly "unbrickable," always capable of restoring a trusted firmware state, reducing critical downtime and eliminating the risk of device loss—even in catastrophic scenarios.

Supported Devices & Hardware Specifications

SRC is compatible with a broad, growing range of devices and configurations, including:

• CPU Architectures:
  • x86 (Intel 6th Gen [Skylake] and newer, AMD Zen/Zen2/Zen3)
  • ARMv7, ARMv8/v9 (including Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson, and select Qualcomm Snapdragon boards)
  • RISC-V (SiFive boards, Allwinner D1 series—beta support)
• Motherboards:
  • Mainstream ATX, Mini-ITX, and embedded industrial boards from vendors like ASUS, ASRock, Supermicro, Gigabyte
  • Popular development platforms (Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Pine64, NVIDIA Jetson Nano/Orin, ODROID, Orange Pi, etc.)
• Embedded Controllers/MCUs:
  • Nuvoton, Renesas, Microchip/Atmel, STM32, Espressif ESP32 (for SPI recovery host)
• Dedicated Storage Integration:
  • SPI NOR/NAND flash (Winbond, Macronix, Micron, etc.), eMMC recovery boot
• RAM:
  • Devices with 512MB RAM or more; optimal operation with ≥1GB RAM on host system
• GPU:
  • Compatible with integrated (Intel/AMD/ARM Mali) and discrete (NVIDIA, AMD) GPUs; SRC operates independently of GPU/graphics stack for maximum compatibility
• Peripheral Support:
  • USB host support for recovery key, SD card, or external drive recovery
  • GPIO and UART for board-level debug and recovery triggers

Please see INSTALL.md and the website's hardware matrix for continuously updated device support lists.

Key Features

• Truly Unbrickable: SRC operates outside the system firmware on a dedicated embedded microcontroller (EC/MCU) or isolated SPI flash, remaining fully independent from the host OS, BIOS, or UEFI.
• Automated Recovery: Actively detects failed boots, firmware corruption, and allows for recovery triggers—no manual intervention required.
• Structured Backup Rotation: Keeps two cryptographically-signed backup firmware copies, allowing instant rollback in case of upgrade, corruption, or security incident.
• Data Preservation: Targets platform firmware exclusively; user data, the operating system, and configuration files remain untouched and safe.
• Tamper-Proof Recovery: All actions are digitally signed, logged, and verified for cryptographic integrity and auditability.

Architecture

• Recovery Core Firmware: Runs on an EC/MCU or reserved flash (as an isolated recovery root), pre-empting BIOS/UEFI even in failure conditions.
• Boot Failure Detection: Multi-layered—hardware (watchdog timers, GPIO/strap, POST code analysis), plus diagnostics via external host CLI.
• USB & SD-Based Recovery: Insert a prepared recovery USB stick or SD card for automatic restore, with fallback to signed onboard backups.
• Cross-Platform CLI: Secure command-line utilities for Linux, Windows, and macOS facilitate status checks, backup/restore, and system audit.
• APIs for Integrators: Clean hooks and APIs for board manufacturers and integrators to incorporate custom recovery or threat-detection routines.

Quick Start

1. Access the official website for guides and downloads:
   https://security-recovery-core.droploot.org/
2. Read the hardware installation documentation:
   Step-by-step walkthroughs for supported devices are found in INSTALL.md.
3. Install the host-based CLI and tools:
   See the setup instructions on the official website or in the cli/ folder.
4. Simulate and verify recovery:
   Use the included test suites to simulate firmware failure conditions and confirm restoration.

Project Structure

SRC/
├── firmware/          # Core recovery firmware and board-specific builds
├── cli/              # Desktop/host command-line interface tools
├── docs/             # Documentation, hardware integration guides, API references
├── tools/            # Build scripts, flashing and emulation utilities
└── tests/            # Automated and hardware-in-the-loop test suites

Security Model

• Strong Signing: All firmware and recovery images are secured with elliptic-curve or RSA digital signatures.
• Tamper-Resistant Logging: Every recovery operation is time-stamped and cryptographically verified to guarantee auditability.
• Multi-step Safeguards: Robust, multi-factor uninstall/disable handles block accidental or unauthorized removal.
• Hardware Enforced Protections: Employs SPI flash locking, firmware-level protections, and strict EC/MCU isolation.
• Open Source, Open Audits: Codebase, security build process, and audit logs are public and community-auditable.

License

SRC is released as open-source software (see LICENSE for details), and the project invites contributions, porting to new boards, and independent audits from the wider security and hardware community.