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Exploit Found to Brick Most HP and Compaq Laptops
Ian Lamont writes "A security researcher calling himself porkythepig has published attack code that can supposedly brick most HP and Compaq laptops. The exploit uses an ActiveX control in HP's Software Update. It would 'let an attacker corrupt Windows' kernel files, making the laptop unbootable, or with a little more effort, allow hacks that would result in a PC hijack or malware infection.' The same researcher last week outlined a batch of additional vulnerabilities in HP and Compaq laptops, for which HP later issued patches."
Two points about the article's headline:
1) The linked article does not describe a successful bricking. You can pop in your recovery CD & away you go.
2) This is a software problem, not a hardware problem. I doubt this exploit is going to work on my (old & crappy) HP sempron laptop, seeing as its dual booting Debian & OS X.
A better headline would be "Exploit found in HP update software" - but I guess that's just not that ad-revenue generating.
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
This is NOT bricking. The OS is simply disabled and can be reinstalled/system repaired whatever.
Bricking means rendering the device completely inert and beyond normal repair methods.
I am government man, come from the government. The government has sent me. -- G.I.R.
We should revisit what "Brick" *actually* means: "When used in reference to electronics, "brick" describes a device that cannot function in any capacity (such as a machine with damaged firmware)." (Wikipedia)
Lately several submissions have used this term incorrectly. Come on, we're supposed to be nerds, not Cringely.
Bricking refers to rendering a device inoperable in a more significant way than corrupting data on a hard drive. These machines can still be booted from external media and restored. A truly bricked device would have its firmware corrupted or suffer some sort of damage not easily repaired without specialist tools.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Bricking means to render unbootable with no means of recovery other than sending back to the manufactures. This is usually done through the corruption of the firmware.
Corrupt the BIOS = bricked. Corrupting Windows = not bricked.
"disabled by default" doesn't matter when applications require its use. We're not talking about "drive-by activex" installs. We're talking about exploitable holes in the OS through a browser control installed by a 3rd party or as required for access to a service.
> Firehose: Exploit supposedly bricks most HP/Compaq laptops by Ian Lamont (1116549)
Usually, the Firehose version is exactly what you submitted and it only gets edited after acceptance. But maybe that doesn't apply to the title, I haven't paid close enough attention to be certain.
Come on people. I know it's all sensational and stuff to talk about bricking, but this ain't bricking. Bricking is when the device is now as "useful as a brick" or could literally be used only as a paper weight or a door stop. When it cannot be recovered or fixed, that's a brick. This is just a fouled up machine. Which viruses have been giving us since the early 90s when hard drives became standard in PCs.
It's like there's a bunch of kiddies out there who heard all the sensation about iPhones getting bricked (now that seemed like a genuine brick for quite a while) and now think that the cool term for screwed up is now "brick". Use some precision, for crying out loud.
"Doubt your doubts and believe your beliefs." -- Switchfoot, Ode to Chin