Pentium Computers Vulnerable to Attack?

An anonymous reader writes "One of the latest security scares is coming from security experts at CanSecWest/core '06 in the form of a possible hardware-specific attack. The attack is based on the built-in procedure that Pentium based chips use when they overheat. From the article: 'When the processor begins to overheat or encounters other conditions that could threaten the motherboard, the computer interrupts its normal operation, momentarily freezes and stores its activity, said Loïc Duflot, a computer security specialist for the French government's Secretary General for National Defense information technology laboratory. Cyberattackers can take over a computer by appropriating that safeguard to make the machine interrupt operations and enter System Management Mode, Duflot said. Attackers then enter the System Management RAM and replace the default emergency-response software with custom software that, when run, will give them full administrative privileges.'"

Comments

Physical access

[Toba82]

Physical access trumps all security. Everyone knows this. This really isn't news, just an interesting new exploit that happens to affect a lot of... systems that are already vulnerable from the same people in the same situation.

Move along, folks.

Not being a retard still work, though? Right?

[SlappyBastard]

So, if I have a real firewall setup and I don't open every attachment I'm sent, I'm still safe, right? At the end of the day, you still have to run the exploit for it to work. So, how is that any worse than the rootkits running around at the moment? The vast majority of viruses still specifically depend on users who haven't hardened their systems.

Re:FUD?

[PsychicX]

That's where this article gets a little sketchy.

When the processor begins to overheat or encounters other conditions that could threaten the motherboard, the computer interrupts its normal operation, momentarily freezes and stores its activity,
Ok, fine.
Every computer that runs on x86 chip architecture may be vulnerable to this attack
Wait. How did we get here?

Let's go through this, again. Intel Pentium 4s are hot. No surprise there. They enter special modes when overheating that may introduce a security vulnerability. Fine. How does this cross over to AMD and Via chips again? AMD and Via processors don't have special modes like that. If system heat becomes critical they will simply shut the system down flat out. On a Pentium 4, overheating is not entirely unexpected, particularly on the high edge of the clock speeds. On an AMD or Via, overheating is a major failure condition, probably caused by a heatsink falling off.

So, how are all x86 chips vulnerable, exactly? (Incidentally, between this and this, AMD is really looking to be a much safer deal, not to mention faster, cooler, more power efficient, etc.)

The devil is in the details

[zenhkim]

Just went and RTFA, and I'm frustrated by a lack of hard details about the new threat:

- The article states that all x86 processors "could" be vulnerable. Does that mean the *entire* series of Pentium chips, even the older PIII and PII's? If so, are they equally as easy to compromise as the modern versions?

- There is no mention of AMD architecture. Doesn't AMD have an equivalent "overheat failsafe" halt-and-cooldown function? Wouldn't that make AMDs vulnerable to this type of exploit as well, or do they require a slightly different attack?

- Isn't the motherboard BIOS FlashROM responsible for the monitoring of and responding to dangerous CPU temperatures? Haven't they already been safeguarded against unauthorized writes, due to the Chernobyl virus?

I think I'll hold off on ordering the prototype Borg implants when they come on the market.... :-(

Re:Good Times

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Then a few years later, Microsoft brought us Outlook with automatic attachment opening, making the first part possible,

The watershed for me, will always be the IE images exploits, where a malicious website could run code, simply by your browser attemtping to download a carefully crafted image file.

There I was, for years, telling people; "There's no way you can get a virus by just looking at an picture on the internet". Boy was I wrong.

Bottom line, not matter what you pronounce impossible through software, invariably, somewhere out there, there exists a bug to accomplish just that.