Great Scott Gadgets
Test Equipment
KiCad
Cynthion
A multi-tool for building, analyzing, and hacking USB devices
Funding ended on Aug 26, 2021 at 04:59 PM PDT.
Great Scott Gadgets
Test Equipment
KiCad
Funding ended on Aug 26, 2021 at 04:59 PM PDT.
LUNA is an all-in-one tool for building, testing, monitoring, and experimenting with USB devices. Built around a unique FPGA-based architecture, LUNA’s digital hardware can be fully customized to suit the application at hand. As a result, it can act as a no-compromise High-Speed USB protocol analyzer, a USB-hacking multi-tool, or a USB development platform.
Out-of-the-box, LUNA acts as a USB protocol analyzer capable of capturing and analyzing traffic between a host and any Low-, Full-, or High-Speed ("USB 2.0") USB device. It works seamlessly with our open-source ViewSB software, which translates captured USB traffic into a human-readable format. ViewSB runs on Linux, MacOS, Windows, and FreeBSD.
Combined with the LUNA software and the FaceDancer libraries, LUNA becomes a versatile USB-hacking and development tool. FaceDancer makes it quick and easy to create or tamper with real USB devices—not just emulations—even if you don’t have experience with digital-hardware design, HDL, or FPGA architecture!
LUNA is a fully reconfigurable test instrument that provides all the hardware, gateware, firmware, and software you will need to work with—and, indeed, to master—USB. Below are a few of the challenges to which you’ll be able to apply your LUNA:
LUNA includes all of the hardware necessary for low-, full-, or high-speed USB protocol analysis – which means it can provide the same functionality as expensive commercial USB analyzers like the TotalPhase Beagle 480 or the LeCroy Mercury series.
Unlike existing USB solutions, however, LUNA’s analyzer stack is built entirely upon powerful, open-source tooling. By leveraging the remarkable Amaranth gateware-generation library and ultra-fast open FPGA tools, LUNA can automatically customize itself to the task at hand, which gives it access to unique features like user-defined hardware triggering and simultaneous capture of additional external or internal signals.
LUNA uses the open-source ViewSB analyzer frontend, which is a powerful, cross-platform tool for capturing, viewing, and analyzing USB data. ViewSB helps make USB traffic more human-readable while processing that traffic at any level of abstraction. And because it is completely open-source and extensible, you can add it to your own custom analysis layer simply by creating a single Python file.
The LUNA team has a long history of USB education. We’ve developed a number of open-source USB trainings and workshops at varying difficulty levels. Over the course of this campaign, we will develop and maintain additional LUNA-specific material that will help you learn how to work with—and hack on—USB.
LUNA’s customizable architecture allows you to do more than just watch the packets fly by. Using LUNA, you can reach out and touch USB traffic at every level. It’s a lot easier to learn how something works when you can take it apart, poke around inside it, and manipulate it in clever ways. LUNA gives you that level of control.
LUNA was built from the ground-up to facilitate the process of creating new USB devices. Whether you’re a veteran low-level hardware designer or completely new to this, LUNA will make your life easier in several ways.
First of all, its FaceDancer backend allows you to describe entire custom USB devices quickly, using just a few lines of Python, so you can try them out right away on real hardware. And, to help you get started, FaceDancer comes with a collection of existing device templates:
# Using a FaceDancer pre-made device, you can create a
# "USB rubber ducky" with only a few lines of python!
device = USBKeyboardDevice()
async def type_letters():
await device.type_string('r', modifiers=KeyboardModifiers.MOD_LEFT_META)
await asyncio.sleep(0.5)
await device.type_string('calc\n')
main(device, type_letters())
And, for those with an interest in FPGA design, LUNA’s unique Amaranth library makes it almost trivial to implement USB gateware. Have a look at our library of examples and start building your own gateware devices in no time!
LUNA is as useful when working with existing USB devices as it is when designing new ones. By giving you the ability to inject or modify USB data transparently—on the fly—it allows you to do things that would otherwise be impossible. And its support for FaceDancer’s USBProxy means that manipulating USB data on the wire is as easy as writing a few lines of Python:
# USBProxy makes manipulating USB data trivial!
# The following few lines are enough to flip the X-axis
# on a Nintendo-branded USB game controller:
class SwitchControllerInvertXFilter(USBProxyFilter):
def filter_in(self, ep_num, data):
# The fourth byte of our packets contains the
# joystick X position, as a number between 0 and 255.
data[3] = 0xff - data[3]
return ep_num, data
LUNA’s USB peripherals are customized for each USBProxy application, so you’re not restricted to certain USB device configurations. It is theoretically possible to proxy just about any USB device in existence!
As a Great Scott Gadgets (GSG) product, LUNA was designed from the beginning to enable new and innovative research, but it also supports a multitude of security and reverse-engineering applications:
yosys+nextpnr open-source FPGA flowTo protect your LUNA while in use, we’ve commissioned an expert designer to create a beautiful and robust milled-aluminum enclosure that completely surrounds and protects LUNA’s electronics:
Each case will be precisely CNC-milled from solid aluminum, then anodized for a sleek, matte-black surface finish. The case design features an intricate internal pattern tailored exactly to the LUNA it will contain. This customization maximizes case density for robust protection and an unusually solid feel – without compromising LUNA’s tiny size or light weight.
During the campaign, LUNA can be purchased with or without its enclosure.
| LUNA | Beagle USB 12 | Beagle USB 480 | USB Explorer 200 | OpenVizsla | PhyWhisperer-USB | GreatFET One | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-/Full-Speed Support | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| High Speed Support | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| USB Analysis Supported | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | limited | N |
| External Buffer DRAM | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N | N |
| Advanced Analysis Triggering | Y | N | Limited | Limited | N | Y | N |
| Supports User USB Designs | Y | N | N | N | Unofficial ¹ | Unofficial ¹ | Y |
| FaceDancer Support | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Full-speed only |
| MITM Support | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Limited |
| USB Device-capable ports ² | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| USB Host-capable ports ³ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Target Power Control | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | Host mode only |
| Extra/User I/O | 16 (PMOD) + 2 (SMA) | 0 | 4 (mini-DIN connector) | 0 | 22 (0.1" header) | 12 (CW connector) | 100 (0.1" header) |
| LEDS / Unique Colors | 11 / 9 | 1 / 1 | 3 / 2 | 3 / 1 | 3 / 2 | 5 / 3 | 4 / 2 |
| Onboard Debug Hardware ⁴ | Y | N | N | N | UART only | UART only | Y |
| Standalone Operation Capable ⁵ | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Limited |
| User-Customizable FPGA | Y | N | N | N | Y | Y | N/A |
| usbc.tf Training Materials | Y | N | N | N | N | N | Y |
| Open HW/FW/SW | Y | N | N | N | Y | Y | Y |
| Open Toolchain | Y | N | N | N | N (ISE) | N (Vivado) | Y (non-FPGA) |
| Size Equivalent | Saltine cracker or 6x6 LEGO® tile | Deck of cards | Nintendo Switch | Two bricks | Nintendo Switch | Deck of cards | Deck of cards |
| Cost (USD or USD equivalent) | $99 ⁶ | $495 | $1,295 | $1,599 | $180 ⁷ | $250 | $89 |
¹ By replacing official gateware with LUNA’s open gateware
² Via LUNA Gateware, TinyUSB SoC, or FaceDancer
³ Via FPGA Gateware
⁴ To debug USB/FPGA designs
⁵ For user gateware or firmware designs
⁶ During crowdfunding campaign
⁷ No longer directly available (price from a third-party manufacturing the open design)
The LUNA project—including its hardware, gateware, firmware, and software—has been developed and enhanced in the open on GitHub. You can view its annotated hardware designs on GitHub, and its developer documentation on ReadTheDocs.
We welcome questions and discussion in the LUNA Discord Channel or via a bridge to the LUNA IRC Channel.
LUNA’s hardware has been refined gradually over four pre-production revisions. The latest revision has been thoroughly validated and is already being used by a number of pre-production testers and open-source contributors.
Great Scott Gadgets has a long history of working with electronics manufacturers in the United States and in China. We have developed working relationships with several contract manufacturers in China, and we trust them to manufacture and assemble LUNA’s electronics and enclosures. We are working closely with a number of distributors and vendors—including Lattice Semiconductor, who manufactures LUNA’s core FPGA—to accelerate component acquisition so LUNA can be manufactured as quickly as possible under current supply-chain conditions.
As always, we’ll keep you up to date on manufacturing developments as they occur! Updates will be posted frequently to the GSG Twitter and sent via email to campaign subscribers.
LUNA hardware and enclosures will be manufactured, assembled, and tested by our contract manufacturers in China, after which they will be shipped to Mouser Electronics, Crowd Supply’s fulfillment partner, for global distribution. More information about ordering, payment, and shipping is available from Crowd Supply, as are details about international fulfillment.
The global electronics supply chain is experiencing an unprecedented chip shortage that makes it significantly more difficult to get concrete estimates about manufacturing time lines. While we’re confident in our ability to produce LUNA’s electronics, industry-wide uncertainty regarding component lead times means that there’s a non-negligible risk of delivery delays.
To reduce the effects of the chip shortage as much as possible, we’ve been working directly with our suppliers, manufacturers, and critical-component vendors—including Lattice Semiconductor—to ensure we can acquire the necessary components as soon as possible. We’ve made arrangements to ensure the manufacturing process will start as soon as possible once all necessary components are on hand.
Electronics manufacturing always comes with associated risks. Fortunately, Great Scott Gadgets has significant experience delivering open-source hardware during periods of supply uncertainty. We are confident in our ability to resolve any issues that might arise.
Produced by Great Scott Gadgets in Evergreen, CO.
Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.
A Cynthion board in a beautiful, robust, CNC-milled, anodized-aluminum enclosure
Want to buy this item? Check the current project page for the latest information.
A Cynthion USB multi-tool without enclosure
Want to buy this item? Check the current project page for the latest information.
Great Scott Gadgets puts open source tools into the hands of innovative people. Our goal is to enable you to do things no one has done before.
