Security in modern RISC-V processors demands more than functional correctness: It requires resilience to side-channel attacks. This paper evaluates the vulnerability of the side channel of the CVA6 RISC-V core by analyzing software-based AES encryption uses an RTL-level power profiling framework called VeriSide. This work represents that this design's Correlation Power Analysis (CPA) reveals significant leakage, enabling key recovery. These findings underscore the importance of early-stage RTL assessments in shaping future secure RISC-V designs.
@article{arxiv.2512.21362,
title = {Power Side-Channel Analysis of the CVA6 RISC-V Core at the RTL Level Using VeriSide},
author = {Behnam Farnaghinejad and Antonio Porsia and Annachiara Ruospo and Alessandro Savino and Stefano Di Carlo and Ernesto Sanchez},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.21362},
year = {2025}
}