Firmware Emulation 101: Exploring the NETGEAR WNAP320


Table Of Content



What is Firmware?

Firmware is the software that runs on embedded devices like routers, access points, or IoT gadgets. It controls how the hardware operates and manages things like network connectivity, device security, and user interactions. In simpler terms — it’s the brain of your hardware.  

Why Analyze Firmware?

Understanding firmware helps you figure out how a device behaves, spot vulnerabilities, or just explore how it works if you’re into hardware hacking. Real-world reasons for doing this include:  

  • Finding hidden backdoors
  • Discovering hardcoded credentials
  • Identifying weak or misconfigured services

Basically, if you’re curious about what your hardware’s hiding, this is where you start.

What is Firmware Emulation?

Firmware emulation is when you run a device’s firmware in a virtual or simulated environment without needing the actual hardware. This makes it possible to test, analyze, and hunt for vulnerabilities safely. The benefits:

  • No risk of bricking your real device
  • Faster debugging and testing
  • Easy to repeat and scale the process

When it comes to emulating router firmware, two widely used tools are:

  • Firmware Analysis Toolkit (FAT) — a framework for extracting, analyzing, and emulating firmware images.
  • Firmadyne — an automated system for performing dynamic analysis of Linux-based embedded firmware.

Both are built to help you interact with and study firmware images without needing the physical device.

Fusing Firmware Analysis Toolkit (FAT)

Let’s start with the Firmware Analysis Toolkit (FAT). FAT is a solid, all-in-one tool for analyzing and emulating firmware images. It comes with built-in support for handling .bin files, making it easier to work with embedded device firmware.  

Tools You’ll Need

Before getting started, make sure you’ve got these:

  • Ubuntu: FAT works on Linux. Ubuntu’s an easy choice if you don’t have a distro set up already.
  • Firmware Analysis Toolkit (FAT): Grab it from here.
  • Firmware file: Download the firmware for your NETGEAR WNAP320. You’ll usually find it on the official support page for your device.

Setting Things Up

    1.Install Dependencies

    downloading the toolkit, make sure you install all the required packages:

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install git python3 python3-pip python3-dev
    2.Clone the Firmware Analysis Toolkit

    If Git isn’t installed, grab it first. Then, clone the toolkit’s repo and jump into its directory:

    git clone https://github.com/attify/firmware-analysis-toolkit.git
    cd firmware-analysis-toolkit
    3.Install Binwalk Dependencies

    Binwalk is the tool FAT uses to extract firmware images. Set it up like this:

    cd firmware-analysis-toolkit/binwalk
    sudo ./deps.sh
    sudo python3 setup.py install
    4.Download the Firmware

    Grab the firmware image for your NETGEAR WNAP320. Head to Netgear’s support site, search for your model, and download the latest available firmware file.

That’s it for the first part.

In the next blog, we’ll dive into extracting, analyzing, and emulating the firmware image with FAT and explore what we can uncover inside.



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