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Google Working To Remove MINIX-Based ME From Intel Platforms (tomshardware.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the repeal-and-replace dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Tom's Hardware: Intel's Management Engine (ME) technology is built into almost all modern Intel CPUs. At the Embedded Linux Conference, a Google engineer named Ronald Minnich revealed that the ME is actually running its own entire MINIX OS and that Google is working on removing it. Due to MINIX's presence on every Intel system, the barebones Unix-like OS is the most widely deployed operating system in the world. Intel's ME technology is a hardware-level system within Intel CPUs that consists of closed-source firmware running on a dedicated microprocessor. There isn't much public knowledge of the workings of the ME, especially in its current state. It's not even clear where the hardware is physically located anymore.

What's concerning Google is the complexity of the ME. Public interest in the subject piqued earlier this year when a vulnerability was discovered in Intel's Active Management Technology (AMT), but that's just a software that runs on ME--ME is actually an entire OS. Minnich's presentation touched on his team's discovery that the OS in question is a closed version of the open-source MINIX OS. The real focus, though, is what's in it and the consequences. According the Minnich, that list includes web server capabilities, a file system, drivers for disk and USB access, and, possibly, some hardware DRM-related capabilities. It's not known if all this code is explicitly included for current or future ME capabilities, or if it's because Intel simply saw more potential value in keeping rather than removing it.

10 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. Obvious question by squiggleslash · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...has anyone figured out how to get a shell prompt in this MINUX system?

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    1. Re:Obvious question by TeknoHog · · Score: 4, Funny

      More generally, how can I install my own OS on this hardware I bought? It's not like we're talking about a game console or some other appliance you don't really own...

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    2. Re:Obvious question by slickwillie · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think a more obvious question is what are the odds that a guy named "Minnich" discovered "Minix" running on the CPUs?

    3. Re:Obvious question by mentil · · Score: 5, Funny

      Minimal

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    4. Re:Obvious question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      A coincidence, Minnich discovered this while at Munich.

  2. Interested move? by alexhs · · Score: 4, Funny

    Google Working To Remove MINIX-Based ME From Intel Platforms

    ... and replacing it with Android. "Just how much juicy monetizable user data could we get that way?"
    (I believe I'm joking, but I'm not completely sure...)

    --
    I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
  3. More instances of MINIX than Linux! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tanenbaum gets the last laugh over Torvalds.

  4. Its official by viperidaenz · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's the year of the Minix desktop!

  5. Talk to Purism? by Checkered+Daemon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Google might want to talk to Purism, who claim to have completely disabled Intel's ME in their secure Linux based laptops.

  6. Re: Obvious answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's a UNIX system, I know this!