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Thunderbolt Rootkit Vector
New submitter Holi sends this news from PC World:
Attackers can infect MacBook computers with highly persistent boot rootkits by connecting malicious devices to them over the Thunderbolt interface. The attack, dubbed Thunderstrike, installs malicious code in a MacBook's boot ROM (read-only memory), which is stored in a chip on the motherboard. It was devised by a security researcher named Trammell Hudson based on a two-year old vulnerability and will be demonstrated next week at the 31st Chaos Communication Congress in Hamburg.
An attacker with physical access to the target is usually a bad thing (tm),
It shouldn't surprise anybody that a malicious PCI-E card can access a system.
Why didn't I think of that.
PROM or EPROM actually.
Well, you're pretty wrong: https://trmm.net/EFI
SPI Flash - is an eeprom.
Too bad it doesn't play the song.
No, by definition he's right: It's tough to overwrite a READ ONLY MEMORY . Of course, the firmware in the Mac isn't actually stored in a true ROM but in an EEPROM or some other solid-state memory that can be overwritten. So the article is incorrect or misleading to call that chip a ROM.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
If I have physical access to your machine, I'm going to get you one way or another.
Firewire, USB 3.0, and Thunderbolt all have DMA, which means any device hooked to a host can pretty much do anything they want to the host, no matter what the host hardware or OS is. I didn't think this sort of thing was still news?
Almost as stupid as making PCI-E part of an external bus. The BIOS write protect jumper of old was the right idea.
For that to happen someone would have to make a thunderbolt device you wanted to buy.
lot's of people can them rom's they have also been called flash roms. Rom update, flash update, etc
A writable ROM are clearly not a ROM
The attack, dubbed Thunderstrike,
Tell me. Does it get it's own little theme song performed by AC/DC too?? That would just complete the marketing circle!
This is one area where good hardware design can fix the problem. Those SPI EEPROMs have a Write-Protect pin, which should be set disabled unless a physical switch is enabled (jumper anyone?).
Yes, it requires opening your computer to update firmware, but firmware updates are a dangerous operation anyway and should not be permitted willy-nilly.
The USB and Firewire interface on the 10 year old J-Bus (UltraSparc IIIi) had memory management for the I/O interfaces as well as the CPU. The DMA from external interfaces could only access memory granted to it by the OS.
A Shadeless room is a brighter room.
Does the vulnerability work if an open firmware password has been set?
Yeah, but to people that don't really understand that "Flash ROM" is really "EEPROM" then they obviously can believe that "ROM" can be changed even though its "Read Only Memory". Flash/EEPROM technically is *not* ROM, it's simply "persistent RAM" if one wanted to think of it that way - an SSD is the pretty much the same thing really, as is a USB memory stick.
Best response I've seen all day. But good luck convincing Apple that anybody but a "Genius" should be cracking open an apple device. Aren't they still using those patented fuck-you^W pentalobe screws?
No, he's right - you just don't understand that ROM != EEPROM. Dumbass.
So if you get hit by this attack, have you been... Thunderstruck?? /me shows self to door
"installs malicious code in a MacBook's boot ROM (read-only memory)"
Nope. It may write to EPROM or something like that but by definition it can not write to ROM. ROM means Read Only Memory and as such there is no writing to it. EPROM or some other flavor of Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory is what it would have to be working with. Too bad writers can't read. Not even their own sentences. Or perhaps they can't comprehend. IM (Incomprehensible Memory) in the case of the OP.
An attacker with physical access to the target is usually a bad thing (tm),
The attacker does not need physical access. All the attacker needs to do is sell hacked thunderbolt cables on ebay or alibaba.
This exploit can be used both ways as a "tool", right? If a malware infected Thunderbolt external drive can flash the EEPROM with a rootkit, is there any reason to believe that Apple couldn't create a utility Thunderbolt ROM drive (read-only to prevent client laptop cross-contamination) to stomp it back out?
Life is not for the lazy.
Thunderbolt Grease Slapper
You apparently did not get the joke
Aren't they still using those patented fuck-you^W pentalobe screws?
But... but... but... they're better than normal screws! They are more robust, because you know, most people open their laptop up every week and replacement screws a really expensive...
Come on fanboys, mod me down :-)
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
"The attack, dubbed Thunderstrike, installs malicious code in a MacBook's boot ROM (read-only memory), which is stored in a chip on the motherboard"
:)
Dear Slashdot editors, shouldn't this be malicious 'computer' boot ROM code. At least it would be so referenced if it infected a Windows 'computer'
Were talking about MacBooks here, not phones. The screws are normal phillips head. They are tiny but easily removed. Note that you can replace your SSD yourself. You can also replace the battery but they frown on that as they want to make sure they are disposed of properly.
This assumes the malware bootkit allows you to rewrite the firmware.
With access to the firmware, you could easily rewrite the appropriate function calls and politely nod your head Yes to the "Flash Firmware" command and do jack with it... hence the need for hardware based reprogramming (as per the summary)
Captcha: screwed
Pfft, of course they are better screws. They are both more expensive and annoying to operate, just like other Apple Iproducts.
iScrew
Only meant to be used by the special Apple certified screwdriver, the iScrewyou.
...
Well, they could have a single button on the side that says firmware update. Who knows when you press it if it's read-only or writeable, though...
With older (PPC?) based Macs, to update the firmware you had to power off the machine, then turn it on by holding the power button until you got an extra beep or sound. This would physically un-write-protect the firmware EPROM so that it could be updated by open firmware.
In their quest to make everything as "user friendly" as possible, they took out this hardware security feature, allowing the update to just happen without any physical action.
Bad Apple, no donut.
Ummm no, if its truly ROM you cant write to it.. Geesh.
You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it does....
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Here's how you do it:
1. Go to a conference, and allow your dongle to 'accidentally' fall out of your bag onto the floor. Wait for somebody to come and pick it up.
2. Open up an online shop and sell knock-off dongles at a reduced price
3. Post an ad on Craigslist selling your 'old' dongle
4. Go to a conference and swap out the dongle that is there with your dongle
At $30 a pop people many unwitting Mac users would pick up one of these devices if they were convinced it were impossible to find out the owner. They might not use it right away, but chances are that at some point they will be in a bind and need one.
No physical access necessary - just a bit of social engineering to bring your device to the machine.
This is really probably the scariest vulnerability I have seen in a while.
If you can write to ROM it isn't ROM to begin with, but PROM*. And you can alter PROM by flipping (the default) ones to zeroes (making it harder, but often still possible to apply useful changes).
And as not all attacks need lots of code even PROM is susceptible to being "updated" for something malicious.
*For the ones who are wondering how data than is placed into the ROM, the full name is "masker-programmable ROM". The zeroes and ones are put into the ROM as a part of the physical manufacturing process.
Can someone explain to me how you can write to Read Only Memory?
Try it! Library of Babel
Find the mistake.
Vendors are stupid, if they make ROM writable, without setting a jumper. Or making it writable at all.
ROM -- Read Only Memory. As stated, data is stored during the manufacturing process. Non-changeable
PROM -- Programmable Read Only Memory. Stores data by burning fusible links inside the chip using a special programming station. Non-changeable for most practical purposes. You can't fix a burned link, but you can burn additional ones.
EPROM -- Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. Data can be stored and then erased by exposing the chip to UV radiation. Chips of this type can be recognized by the opaque sticker covering the quartz window on the top of the chip. No UV sources are built into computer enclosures.
EEPROM -- Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory. The only type of ROM memory that can be reprogrammed inside a computer. Almost identical to FLASH memory.
Such features were likely removed at the request of the NSA or other shadowy government agency.
"Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen