New Automotive SoC Partnerships Expand Attack Surface for Connected Vehicles

The automotive industry's race toward greater autonomy and connectivity is driving unprecedented semiconductor partnerships that are reshaping vehicle architectures while simultaneously expanding cybersecurity risks. Recent collaborations between chipmakers and automotive suppliers, exemplified by the MediaTek-DENSO partnership for Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) SoCs and Samsung's development of its Exynos 2800 with in-house GPU for applications beyond smartphones, signal a fundamental shift in how vehicles are designed and secured.

These partnerships represent a double-edged sword for automotive cybersecurity professionals. On one hand, they enable more sophisticated safety and convenience features through specialized silicon optimized for automotive workloads. MediaTek's collaboration with DENSO, a leading automotive component manufacturer, focuses on developing SoCs specifically for ADAS applications, integrating multiple processing units for sensor fusion, computer vision, and real-time decision making. Similarly, Samsung's development of custom GPU technology for its Exynos platform indicates a push toward automotive-grade chips capable of handling the intensive graphical and AI processing required for digital cockpits and autonomous driving functions.

However, this specialization comes with significant security implications that extend far beyond traditional automotive concerns. The convergence of information technology (IT), operational technology (OT), and physical safety systems in modern vehicles creates attack surfaces that span multiple security domains. Each new partnership introduces additional links in an already complex supply chain, complicating vulnerability management and incident response.

Supply Chain Visibility Challenges

The MediaTek-DENSO collaboration exemplifies the modern automotive supply chain's opacity. Security teams at automotive manufacturers must now account for security postures not just of their direct suppliers, but of their suppliers' semiconductor partners. This creates a multi-tiered security assessment problem where vulnerabilities in MediaTek's SoC design or manufacturing process could potentially affect DENSO's components and ultimately the vehicles they're installed in. The lack of standardized security requirements across these partnerships creates inconsistent security postures that attackers can exploit.

Firmware Integrity and Update Management

Samsung's expansion into automotive applications with its Exynos 2800, reportedly featuring an in-house GPU and scheduled for 2027 launch, introduces new considerations for firmware security. Custom GPU architectures mean proprietary firmware and drivers that may not follow established automotive security standards. The complexity of these systems increases the attack surface for firmware-level exploits that could compromise safety-critical functions. Furthermore, the extended lifecycle of automotive components (10-15 years versus 2-3 years for consumer electronics) creates long-term maintenance challenges for security updates and vulnerability patches.

Convergence Security Implications

The integration of these advanced SoCs blurs traditional boundaries between vehicle domains. ADAS systems powered by specialized chips like those from MediaTek-DENSO must communicate with infotainment systems that might utilize platforms like Samsung's Exynos. This inter-domain communication creates potential pathways for privilege escalation attacks where a compromise in one less-critical system could provide access to safety-critical functions. The custom nature of these SoCs means security researchers have limited visibility into their internal architectures, potentially hiding vulnerabilities that only sophisticated attackers with insider knowledge might discover.

Recommendations for Security Teams

1. Implement Extended Supply Chain Security Programs: Automotive manufacturers must develop security assessment frameworks that extend to second and third-tier suppliers, including semiconductor partners. This includes requiring transparency into chip design security features, manufacturing process security, and vulnerability disclosure processes.

1. Adopt Hardware-Based Security Foundations: Security architectures should leverage hardware security modules (HSMs), trusted platform modules (TPMs), and hardware root of trust implementations that are integrated at the SoC level. These foundations must be specified as requirements in semiconductor partnership agreements.

1. Develop Domain Isolation Strategies: Despite increasing integration, security architectures must maintain strong isolation between safety-critical systems (ADAS, braking) and convenience systems (infotainment, connectivity). This requires both hardware and software mechanisms that prevent cross-domain exploitation.

1. Establish Long-Term Security Maintenance Agreements: Given automotive lifecycles, partnerships must include contractual obligations for security updates throughout the vehicle's operational life, including mechanisms for secure over-the-air updates and vulnerability management.

1. Invest in Automotive-Specific Threat Intelligence: Security teams need intelligence focused specifically on automotive semiconductor vulnerabilities, attack patterns targeting vehicle SoCs, and emerging threats in the automotive supply chain ecosystem.

The evolution of automotive semiconductors through strategic partnerships represents both tremendous opportunity and significant risk. As vehicles become increasingly defined by their silicon, cybersecurity must become equally integral to semiconductor design and partnership strategies. The security community's ability to adapt to this new reality will determine not just the security of future vehicles, but ultimately the safety of their occupants and the public.