PCILeech Firmware Generator is a Linux-based tool designed to create authentic PCIe DMA firmware by extracting configuration data from real donor PCIe hardware. It addresses the need for generating unique firmware bitstreams tailored to specific donor devices, explicitly avoiding the use of placeholder values to ensure each output is unique to the hardware analyzed. The tool operates through a three-stage build pipeline: first, it collects PCIe device data using VFIO on the host system; second, it generates firmware from the collected data within a containerized or local environment, focusing on templating; and third, it can optionally synthesize the firmware using Vivado on the host.
Key features include donor hardware analysis via VFIO, full 4KB configuration space shadowing stored in BRAM, replication of MSI-X interrupt tables, and automatic detection of dynamic PCIe device capabilities. The tool provides an interactive text-based user interface (TUI) for guided workflows and real-time monitoring, as well as support for containerized builds to enable isolated and reproducible firmware generation. Users can also run the tool directly via the command line interface. 11 or higher, and access to a real PCIe donor device. Optional dependencies include Podman for container builds and Vivado for synthesis.
Typical use cases for PCILeech Firmware Generator include security research focused on PCIe and DMA security testing, educational purposes such as learning PCIe protocols and FPGA development, and development activities like driver development and hardware debugging. The tool is intended for legitimate research, educational, and development use, with users responsible for ensuring legal compliance and only operating on systems they own or have permission to test.
PCILeech Firmware Generator is distributed under the MIT License, allowing for open-source use and modification. Comprehensive documentation is available, covering installation, setup, build processes, and troubleshooting.
In the Other infrastructure space, PCILeech Firmware Generator takes a focused approach. It focuses on automating the generation of unique PCIe DMA firmware from real donor hardware for device cloning and research. It is built as a B2B product for hardware security researchers. The product ships for the web and the command line.
voltcyclone builds and maintains PCILeech Firmware Generator, and the product first shipped in 2025. Development happens publicly on GitHub with 267 stars and 43 commits in the last 90 days. Key capabilities include firmware generation, PCIe DMA support, and 3-stage build pipeline.
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