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Getting Started with HydraBus

Benjamin Vernoux edited this page Feb 25, 2024 · 104 revisions

The HydraBus (hardware) with HydraFW (firmware) are used as an open source multi-tool for anyone interested in learning/developping/debugging/hacking/Penetration Testing for basic or advanced embedded hardware.

The MCU is one of the fastest Cortex M4F on the market and is more than 40X faster than an Arduino (STM32F405, 32bits@168MHz=210DMIPS vs Arduino Uno, 8bits@16MHz=5.2DMIPS).

HydraBus can be also used as Test Bench for hardware validation/test with help of embedded python script or native C/C++ firmware and it is a perfect tool for hardware pentesting.

HydraBus is evolutive with the help of “Shield” hardware extensions:

HydraBus use cases:

Video related to HydraBus / HydraNFC:

Press/Blogs related to HydraBus

Conference Talk related to HydraBus:

Tutorial/Workshop/Training related to HydraBus:

Tutorial related to HydraBus & HydraNFC:

Hack/Challenge using HydraBus:


If you have just received your HydraBus (v1.0 Rev1_5) (see https://hydrabus.com/hydrabus-1-0-specifications) the factory flashed firmware is HydraFW (HydraBus) v0.11-1-g4d74500 2023-05-09, if you want the latest features you can update it (using USB DFU) with latest firmware with following steps:

Important: If you have an HydraNFC v1 or V2 Shield you shall only connect it on TOP of HydraBus (you shall push it strongly to be fully connected).

  1. Follow the step Flash and use hydrafw on Windows or Flash and use hydrafw on Linux depending on your system.
  2. When a Host is connected to HydraBus USB1 or USB2 (with a PC or any device supporting USB Host(also OTG) communications device class also called Virtual Serial Port) with the help of a VT100 Terminal you can use HydraFW console commands described in wiki https://github.com/hydrabus/hydrafw/wiki/HydraFW-console-commands

For more details on HydraBus/HydraNFC and HydraFW (the official firmware for HydraBus/HydraNFC) see following links:

Official web pages HydraBus

HydraBus/HydraNFC official firmware HydraFW

Wiki for HydraFW (Support HydraBus/HydraNFC)

Alternative firmware:

HydraBus Hardware

HydraNFC Hardware

For Issue/Question see HydraFW Issue

How to Flash/Use HydraFW

How to Build/Flash/Use HydraFW

Developer Getting-Started with HydraBus and STM32CubeIDE

Hardware

Firmware (hydrafw) performances

Firmware (hydrafw) Application guides

Firmware (hydrafw) guides

How to Help

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