Authors:
Amina Jandoubi
1
;
M. Bennani
1
;
Olfa Mosbahi
2
and
Abdelaziz El Fazziki
3
Affiliations:
1
LIPSIC Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, 2092, Tunisia
;
2
LISI Laboratory, National Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (INSAT), University of Carthage, Tunis, 1080, Tunisia
;
3
Computer Science Dept, LISI Laboratory, Caddi Ayyad University of Marrakesh, Marrakech, Morocco
Keyword(s):
SIGIRO, MQTT, LTL, Formalizing, Attack Scenarios, TLC Model Checker.
Abstract:
The SIGIRO project seeks to create an intelligent system for managing water resources in Marrakech-Safi
and Tunisia’s northwest regions. The project introduces a systematic monitoring process to ensure adaptive
control to address climate change. SIGIRO gathers data using the MQTT protocol, which has been the target
of several cyberattacks in recent years. The absence of a formal description of these attacks leaves the field
open to interpretation, leading to distinct implementations for a given attack. In this article, we formalize these
attacks, provide descriptions, and check their exactness. We offer a systematic approach to formalizing seven
attack scenarios targeting the MQTT protocol. Using the LTL temporal logic formalism, we generate 12 LTL
formulas, each precisely describing a specific attack scenario. We classify these formulas into four categories
according to a sequence of observation and injection events. These events are the abstract elements needed
to control
the attacks’ implementation. We verify our proposed formulas using the TLC Model Checker. We
show the procedure to encode the LTL formula using TLA+ language. For each attack formula, the verification
process generates a counterexample proving the occurrence of the formalized attack. These counterexamples
model the execution sequence leading to the breach while providing key metrics such as the number of states
generated, the number of pending states, the elapsed time, and the identification of redundant states. Based on
the execution traces obtained, we formulate proposals for enhancing the specification of the MQTT protocol.
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