Firmware & Embedded Security Tools 2026
Firmware and embedded security covers the tools that find and fix risk in the code that runs below the operating system: device firmware, bootloaders, microcontroller binaries, FPGA bitstreams, and the connected products built on top of them. This is the layer you usually cannot reach with an EDR agent or a normal patch cycle, and most of it ships as compiled images from a third party, so the work centers on unpacking firmware, building an SBOM from the binary, and spotting known CVEs, hardcoded secrets, weak crypto, and insecure boot configurations. Two groups of buyers care: product security teams shipping connected hardware who need to clear firmware before release, and enterprise security teams trying to understand the OT, IoT, and embedded devices already running inside their environment.
We cover 63 Firmware & Embedded Security tools, 3 free and 60 commercial.
Accuracy and depth improve over time. Last reviewed Sep 2026. Is something off? Reach out.
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New to this category? What is Firmware & Embedded Security?
Autonomous exploitation platform for OT, IoT, firmware, drones, and robots.
Secure element chip with dev kits for embedded hardware security.
Linux SBCs with hardware root of trust for secure edge AI deployments.
Unified platform securing firmware, hardware & supply chain across enterprise devices.
Automated hardware/firmware reverse engineering platform for embedded systems
Analyzes Android firmware and pre-installed apps to detect vulnerabilities before device
Payatu's lab service for security testing of hardware, IoT, and radio devices
AI agent platform for continuous offensive validation of firmware, binaries
Firmware integrity monitoring platform detecting IoCs below the OS layer.
Firmware-level threat alerting service for hardware integrity monitoring.
Embedded web server with TLS for IoT/connected embedded devices.
Embedded SSH v2 client/server toolkit for secure IoT device management.
Automotive fuzz testing tool for ECU vulnerability detection per UN R155/ISO 21434.
Autonomous firmware binary pentesting platform requiring no source code or hardware.
Secure OS for mission-critical connected devices, built on the seL4 microkernel.
Automated runtime code protection for embedded systems via memory relocation (LFR)
Hardware-enforced security & resilience stack for unattended Linux edge devices.
Agentless runtime security for IoT/embedded devices using EIV™ tech.
Embedded IoT security platform with runtime protection & observability.
Hardware security testing tools for side-channel analysis & fault injection.
Formally verified secure OS/TEE for IoT and embedded devices.
Suite of certified trusted apps for IoT security running on ProvenCore OS.
Automated fuzz & penetration testing tool for automotive ECUs and software.
How to choose Firmware & Embedded Security tools
- Decide your use case first: product teams clearing firmware before release need different tools than enterprise teams discovering and scoring embedded devices already in their environment.
- Confirm the tool supports your actual targets: the CPU architectures, file formats, RTOS images, and FPGA bitstreams you ship or operate, not just Linux-based firmware.
- Judge the quality of component and version detection, since a weak SBOM produces both missed vulnerabilities and a flood of false CVE matches that no one can triage.
- Check that findings carry enough context to act on, such as which component, which version, and whether the vulnerable code is reachable, rather than a raw CVE dump.
- Look at how it fits your workflow: CI integration and gating for product teams, or device discovery and continuous monitoring for operational environments.
- Weigh free binary analysis tools for deep one-off investigation against commercial platforms that track SBOMs, CVEs, and findings across a whole product line over time.
Firmware & Embedded Security Tools FAQ
Common questions about Firmware & Embedded Security tools, selection guides, pricing, and comparisons.
It is the practice and tooling for finding and reducing risk in code that runs below the operating system: device firmware, bootloaders, microcontroller and FPGA images, and the connected products built on them. Because this code is rarely patchable on a normal cycle and usually arrives as compiled binaries from vendors, the tools focus on unpacking images, extracting a software bill of materials, and detecting known vulnerabilities, hardcoded credentials, and insecure boot settings.
Application security tools assume you have source code, a build pipeline, and an OS that can run an agent. Firmware security assumes none of that. You are often handed a binary image with no source, the device cannot run a sensor, and you cannot push a quick patch. The tooling does binary analysis: it carves the filesystem out of the image, identifies bundled open source components and their versions, and matches them against vulnerability databases without ever seeing the original code.
Match the tool to your role first. Product teams shipping hardware want firmware analysis that produces an SBOM, flags CVEs and secrets before release, and slots into CI. Enterprise teams want device discovery and risk scoring across the OT and IoT they already run. Then check supported architectures and file formats, the quality of component and version detection, false positive rates, and whether findings come with enough context to act on. Tools in this category split sharply along these lines.
Free tools like binary carvers and open source unpackers are excellent for one-off investigation, reverse engineering, and confirming what is inside a specific image. They are weaker at scale: building and tracking SBOMs across a product line, mapping versions to CVEs continuously, managing findings over time, and reporting for compliance. If firmware security is an ongoing program rather than a single analysis, a commercial platform usually earns its cost through automation and tracking.
