Request for Assistance: Extracting Compiled Code from nRF52840

[anpiri]

Dear all,

We have an nRF52840 Development Kit with fully functional code that was previously developed, compiled, and uploaded by a company that has since gone bankrupt. Unfortunately, we no longer have access to the original source code, and we are unable to contact the engineers who developed it.

We are seeking guidance on whether there is any possible way to retrieve the compiled code from the device. 

If anyone has experience with this type of situation or can provide insights into possible methods (while respecting any security restrictions that may apply), we would greatly appreciate your help.

Thank you in advance for your support

[Vidar Berg]

Hello,

You should be able to read the binary code from the chip with nrfjprog from the command line if readback protection is not enabled.

e.g.,

$ nrfjprog --readcode --readuicr FW.hex 

Best regards,

Vidar

[anpiri]

This is a novice question, but would it be possible at all to recover the main C code from that? Or otherwise, what can be done with the binary code

[Vidar Berg]

It will likely be much easier to rewrite the firmware from scratch using the code examples we provide. It's not possible to recover the exact same C code, but it is possible to reverse engineer the binary and get something that may resemble the original source code. But this would require specialized skills and significant effort. Reverse engineering something may also have legal implications.