GhostTag Apocalypse

The Internet is unavailable, GPS is jammed, and only a sparse network of BLE gateways remains operational. Your task is to complete the firmware protocol for battery-powered rescue tags that must remain discoverable without broadcasting a permanent identity.

The protocol must survive unstable power, reject forged and replayed packets, limit flash wear, and remain within a strict energy budget. The final system is tested as a multi-device nRF52840 swarm in Renode.

This is an approximately 8-hour firmware challenge. You will work only in:

firmware/ghost_protocol.c

The public API, application code, gateway firmware, simulation scenario, and validation rules are fixed contracts.

1. problem/problem.md – the complete protocol, journal, recovery, energy,

and acceptance contract.

1. firmware/include/ghost_protocol.h – all public types, constants,

callbacks, and function signatures.

1. firmware/ghost_protocol.c – the starter implementation and the six

TODOs you must complete.

1. firmware/tests/test_protocol.c – the fast public tests and the expected

storage behavior.

1. renode/README.md – the files exposed for the simulation and the

reset/attacker sequence.

1. renode/generate_swarm_resc.py and renode/run_test.sh – how the swarm

is generated, executed, and passed to validation.

1. docs/renode_primer.md – the nRF52840 machines, BLE medium, provisioning

region, persistent journal region, and UART evidence.

1. docs/exercise_guide.md – the recommended solution order and the three

feedback layers.

The values and byte layouts below are a summary. If this page and the fixed C header differ, follow the header and problem/problem.md.

Complete the six TODOs in firmware/ghost_protocol.c:

1. canonical SipHash-2-4, including partial final message blocks;
2. the two-lane persistent key-ratchet step;
3. construction of the protocol-v3 packet, EID, and domain-separated MAC;
4. strict packet verification with constant-time EID and MAC comparison;
5. boot-time journal scan, validation, recovery, and lease reservation;
6. payload emission with reservation before lease exhaustion and exactly one

in-memory epoch advance.

Keep the existing function signatures. Do not change the packet size, constants, storage callbacks, or public structures to work around the contract.

Every BLE manufacturer payload is exactly 28 bytes:

A stable tag identifier must never appear on air in either byte order.

The provided seed_to_key function derives the epoch-0 key. To derive the key for next_epoch, compute two SipHash outputs using the current 16-byte key:

0x52 || next_epoch_le32 || lane

Use lane 0 for new key bytes 0..7 and lane 1 for bytes 8..15. Compute both outputs before replacing the current key.

For a packet at epoch e:

• ratchet from epoch 0 through e to obtain the epoch key;
• compute the EID with SipHash over

0x45 || epoch_le32 || sector_le32;

• copy the epoch key and XOR bytes 0, 7, 8, and 15 with

0x4d, 0x41, 0x43, and 0xa7 to obtain the MAC key;

• authenticate packet bytes 0..19 with the MAC key;
• reject an incorrect company ID, version, EID, MAC, or an epoch above

1,000,000;

• compare all EID and MAC bytes without returning on the first mismatch.

The tag has two 4096-byte journal pages. Erased bytes are 0xff; a write may only change bits from 1 to 0; an erase operates on one complete page.

Each journal slot is a 40-byte record:

Write the 36-byte body first. Write the commit word in a separate final storage operation. A missing commit, bad CRC, bad magic, or partially written body is not a valid record.

The journal reserves leases of 16 epochs:

• before the first advertisement, durably reserve epochs 0..15 by storing

the resume state for epoch 16;

• after a clean reboot, resume at the stored future epoch and reserve the next

lease before transmitting;

• if a non-erased invalid slot follows the newest valid record, skip two full

leases conservatively before reserving again;

• append after the newest record;
• when one page is full, erase the other page and write its first record;
• never erase the page holding the newest valid state before its successor is

committed.

These rules must prevent epoch reuse after a torn body write, torn commit, corrupted CRC, page rollover, or power loss at any storage operation.

Runtime energy is calculated as:

energy = flash_writes * 8 + page_erases * 40 + advertisements

One committed record requires two writes: body, then commit. The power-cut simulation must use no more than 80 energy units.

The endurance tests generate 2000 sequential payloads. A passing solution uses at most 252 flash writes and exactly one page erase. Persisting every packet cannot pass these limits; lease reservation is required.

The complete run starts:

• 6 authorized nRF52840 tags;
• 3 trusted observer gateways;
• 1 unregistered clone;
• 1 attacker replaying a captured, correctly authenticated packet.

At virtual second 3, Renode resets tag 1 while preserving its nonvolatile journal. The replay attacker then transmits an old epoch-0 packet from a different BLE address.

A correct system must:

• discover all six authorized tags;
• observe identity rotation for every tag;
• reject the unregistered clone;
• reject the captured replay;
• recover tag 1 without reusing an epoch;
• remain within the runtime energy budget;
• finish without firmware fatal errors.

Use the fastest feedback first. Do not repeatedly run the full swarm while the native protocol suite still fails.

The Run action has three gates:

1. native C17 tests for cryptography, packet integrity, persistence, recovery,

corruption handling, and endurance;

1. Zephyr builds for the nRF52840 tag and trusted gateway;
2. an 8-second Renode swarm followed by validation and report generation.

The complete success output includes lines equivalent to:

PROTOCOL_CONTRACT_TESTS failures=0
Renode exit status: 0
GHOST_VALIDATION passed=1 ... tags=6/6 rotated=6/6 ... recovered=1 energy=.../80
>>> GHOSTTAG FLEET SURVIVED THE APOCALYPSE <<<

After the run, refresh the Results panel and inspect output/report.html. When a check fails, read the first failing gate and its log before changing code.

Before considering the challenge complete, confirm that:

• all six TODOs have real implementations;
• all 64 SipHash vectors pass;
• the exact ratchet and 28-byte packet vectors pass;
• malformed, tampered, forged, and unreasonable packets are rejected;
• fresh boot reserves a lease before any packet is emitted;
• every recovery path avoids epoch reuse;
• torn and corrupted records remain invalid;
• 2000 payloads stay within the write and erase limits;
• both Zephyr applications build;
• the Renode validator reports all six tags seen and rotated;
• clone rejection, replay rejection, recovery, energy, and fatal-error checks

all pass.