{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,29]],"date-time":"2026-09-29T04:36:03Z","timestamp":1790656563049,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]],"date-time":"2025-07-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1752019200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Informatics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Firmware vulnerabilities in embedded devices have caused serious security incidents, necessitating similarity analysis of binary program instruction embeddings to identify vulnerabilities. However, existing instruction embedding methods neglect program execution semantics, resulting in accuracy limitations. Furthermore, current embedding approaches utilize independent computation across models, where the lack of standardized interaction information between models makes it difficult for embedding models to efficiently detect firmware vulnerabilities. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a firmware vulnerability detection scheme based on statistical inference and code similarity fuzzy matching analysis for resource-constrained vehicular network environments, helping to balance both accuracy and efficiency. First, through dynamic programming and neighborhood search techniques, binary code is systematically partitioned into normalized segment collections according to specific rules. The binary code is then analyzed in segments to construct semantic equivalence mappings, thereby extracting similarity metrics for function execution semantics. Subsequently, Google Protocol Buffers (ProtoBuf) is introduced as a serialization format for inter-model data transmission, serving as a \u201ctranslation layer\u201d and \u201cbridging technology\u201d within the firmware vulnerability detection framework. Additionally, a ProtoBuf-based certificate authentication scheme is proposed to enhance vehicular network communication reliability, improve data serialization efficiency, and increase the efficiency and accuracy of the detection model. Finally, a vehicular network simulation environment is established through secondary development on the NS-3 network simulator, and the functionality and performance of this architecture were thoroughly tested. Results demonstrate that the algorithm possesses resistance capabilities against common security threats while minimizing performance impact. Experimental results show that FirmPB delivers superior accuracy with 0.044 s inference time and 0.932 AUC, outperforming current SOTA in detection performance.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/informatics12030067","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,11]],"date-time":"2025-07-11T13:44:19Z","timestamp":1752241459000},"page":"67","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Balancing Accuracy and Efficiency in Vehicular Network Firmware Vulnerability Detection: A Fuzzy Matching Framework with Standardized Data Serialization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Xiyu","family":"Fang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 2006, Xiyuan Avenue, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone (West District), Chengdu 611731, China"},{"name":"CATARC Automotive Test Center (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., Xianfeng East Road, Dongli District, Tianjin 300162, China"},{"name":"China Automotive Technology & Research Center Co., Ltd., Xianfeng East Road, Dongli District, Tianjin 300162, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kexun","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CATARC Automotive Test Center (Tianjin) Co., Ltd., Xianfeng East Road, Dongli District, Tianjin 300162, China"},{"name":"China Automotive Technology & Research Center Co., Ltd., Xianfeng East Road, Dongli District, Tianjin 300162, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yue","family":"Wu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, No. 2006, Xiyuan Avenue, Chengdu Hi-tech Zone (West District), Chengdu 611731, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-2324-0030","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rui","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Software Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Tuqiang Road, Jinzhou District, Dalian 116024, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Software Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Tuqiang Road, Jinzhou District, Dalian 116024, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhao, J., and Wang, R. 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