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Behind the Xbox Boot Code
NiteStar writes "The Xbox-Linux team has up a new article about The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox. The Xbox console contains a 'chain of trust' to allow only legit Microsoft signed code to run on the Xbox. The hidden 'MCP' boot ROM (just 512bytes) is the link between hardware and software in this chain of trust." From the wiki article: "The Xbox, having an external (reprogrammable) 1 MB Flash ROM chip (models since 2003 have only 256 KB), would normally start running code there as well, since this megabyte is also mapped into the uppermost area of the address space. But this would make it too easy for someone who wants to either replace the ROM image with a self-written one or patch it to break the chain of trust ("modchips"). The ROM image could be fully accessed, it would be easy to reverse-engineer the code; encryption and obfuscation would only slow down the hacking process a bit."
In Microsoft's case, their 512 bytes are incredibly high-profile. And based on the extensive nature of the hacks, they had to find a couple of VERY experienced security people to inspect their code, and who they trusted 100% to not disclose inside information. My bet is they didn't choose the right people to inspect their code, and after the inspection, any other employees who showed an interest in making sure the code was secure were treated more with suspicion than anything.
A brilliant, brilliant piece of stand-up hacking. Perhaps the best that has *ever* appeared in /. I stand in awe...
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Andrew "Bunnie" Huang, specifically.
Nice attempt at a TCPA-like architecture, though. And cheers to the xbox-linux guys for their amazing achievements and enlightening write-up.
All they did was digitize themselves into the XBox and destroy the MCP with a Data Disc.
Richard Feynman was one of the people who investigated the first shuttle disaster, and as a pain in the ass cantankerous old coot, really didn't care about standard Washington procedures and really got to the core of the matter. He cronicles a lot of it in What Do You Care What Other People Think?, ISBN: 0393320928 (get it from wherever, no Amazon kickbacks here). A very interesting read, I ended up reading it right after the second shuttle disaster, and thought that a lot of the human problems that caused the first blow up could be fingered in the second.
If you haven't read Feynman before, you'll probably like him. Funny guy, pretty damn smart, and managed with luck, brains, skill and stubbornness to get in the middle of some of the biggest science in the last century.
His point is absurd, but it is a point. As much as we all value freedom of speech, there have been cases here when ISPs and Children (yes, children) have lost in court cases becase a web page belonging to said children contains links to pages (belonging to someone else) that linked to a few copyrighted MP3s.
The GACs (Greedy-Ass Cu..s) are making legitimite technology harder to develop, deploy and use; write a program that can easily share files and someone will load his entire CD collection into it for all to download... then the GACs will come along and take you to court for "developing software with the specific intent to violate copyright" or somesuch.
The world is in a sad state of affairs when it comes to matters like this. The (in the US and all countries that entered into free trade agreements with it) DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent any form of encryption, copy protection, etc.
Slashdot linking to an article that clearly describes the flaws in a copy protection implementation and how to get around it is becoming shaky ground. Gone are the days of free information... the GACs that run the world are making sure of that.
Be afraid, be very afraid.
I drink to make other people interesting!
Despite some of the smart-aleck replies, this wiki article is a very good history of how the xbox was hacked. I remember when Bunnie was keeping us up-to-date on a day to day basis back in the heyday of xboxhacker.net. When he pulled the bios off the board and posted it on his website, he immediately got a phone call from Macroshaft which he recorded and put on his site. Funny stuff.
But, the whole point of the article is to prove that you can never lock anything completely down, from cd's to xboxen--they have to be used somehow don't they? And hey, DMCA, you're a menace to the greatest minds of the US (and no, not the minds at Macroshaft).
you mean before CHEATERS ruin it for everyone again.
having control over your hardware is not a crime and not immoral in any way. but the future is going to be a real nightmare. education is the answer... tell everyone you know about the evils of TCPA/DRM/Insidiuous Computing/region codes/etc and all the other bullshit that they've been foisting on us.
education is the answer!
Science : Proprietary , Knowledge : Open Source
Sorry, I didnt clarify in my post. In the Halo 2 community, a slang word for Cheater, is Modder. Someone who is modifying their console in a way to give them an advantage in the game. I dont mind modifying your Xbox to make it a cheap PC, put in a big HD to store your legally purchased games, or, a media center. I just dont like people who use it for chating a service you pay for. The next iteration of Halo will have built-in modding, I assume. Already Pariah, and a few others have map building software on this generation.
I just like to lose fairly, the way the game was designed to play without having to resort to modding my Xbox to get that edge. Its a moral question that has been debated before, and, will probably be debated into oblivion. I dont want to get into it now.