Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hiding a Rootkit In System Management Mode

Posted by kdawson on from the can-you-see-me-now dept.

Sniper223 notes a PC World article on a new kind of rootkit recently developed by researchers, which will be demoed at Black Hat in August. The rootkit runs in System Management Mode, a longtime feature of x86 architecture that allows for code to run in a locked part of memory. It is said to be harder to detect, potentially, than VM-based rootkits. The article notes that the technique is unlikely to lead to widespread expoitation: "Being divorced from the operating system makes the SMM rootkit stealthy, but it also means that hackers have to write this driver code expressly for the system they are attacking."

1 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Difficult in practice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    In theory, SMM is the ultimate rootkit hiding place. In practice, it's difficult to exploit on a wide scale. Getting the system to execute rootkit code in SMM isn't easy. You're going to need an exploitable BIOS bug, or the ability to reflash the ROM. Either is going to be very system-specific.