SNIU028D February 2016 – September 2020 UCD3138 , UCD3138064 , UCD3138064A , UCD3138128 , UCD3138A , UCD3138A64
This backdoor can provide security, if done properly. It starts with the firmware checking an I/O line at startup – before the rest of the system is initialized – and branching to the backdoor if the I/O line is in the proper state.
The big advantage of the I/O line based backdoor is that firmware changes are unlikely to make it stop working. Since it is at the very beginning of the code, changes later in the code should not affect it.
The simplest way involves just branching straight to the code that clears the flash. In this case, the code can erase the entire flash, preventing others from being able to read it. There are several ways to do this: