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SSD Drives Vulnerable To Rowhammer-Like Attacks That Corrupt User Data (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader writes: NAND flash memory chips, the building blocks of solid-state drives (SSDs), include what could be called "programming vulnerabilities" that can be exploited to alter stored data or shorten the SSD's lifespan. According to research published earlier this year, the programming logic powering of MLC NAND flash memory chips (the tech used for the latest generation of SSDs), is vulnerable to at least two types of attacks.
The first is called "program interference," and takes place when an attacker manages to write data with a certain pattern to a target's SSD. Writing this data repeatedly and at high speeds causes errors in the SSD, which then corrupts data stored on nearby cells. This attack is similar to the infamous Rowhammer attack on RAM chips.
The second attack is called "read disturb" and in this scenario, an attacker's exploit code causes the SSD to perform a large number of read operations in a very short time, which causes a phenomenon of "read disturb errors," that alters the SSD ability to read data from nearby cells, even long after the attack stops.
The first is called "program interference," and takes place when an attacker manages to write data with a certain pattern to a target's SSD. Writing this data repeatedly and at high speeds causes errors in the SSD, which then corrupts data stored on nearby cells. This attack is similar to the infamous Rowhammer attack on RAM chips.
The second attack is called "read disturb" and in this scenario, an attacker's exploit code causes the SSD to perform a large number of read operations in a very short time, which causes a phenomenon of "read disturb errors," that alters the SSD ability to read data from nearby cells, even long after the attack stops.
...I don't think it has much real-world worry. If you're running an intentionally malicious program on your computer, you've got far worse problems. A SSD is one device. A single credit card number is worth thousands of dollars to you and possibly dozens of hours of your valuable time to fix.
I do wonder, is there such an equivalent vulnerability in platter drives? Writing rapidly to the inside and outside of the platter so the heads scream back and forth over and over? (Kind of like the bad old days of exceeding your RAM and thrashing everything to a page file as your heads go CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK.)
Come to think of it, I wonder if you could VARY the read/write speed of a hard drive by changing your write patterns. So if you can get the heads to swing at a certain frequency, you could start a resonant oscillation of the heads which, if tuned right, would cause a complete mechanical failure.
We used to do that ON PURPOSE. It's wasn't mechanical failure, it was an undocumented feature. http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargo...