3 ms·

I don't get why they're doing this. WinRT is dead, the Surface RT is definitely dead; why bother screwing over people you've already screwed over?

eropple 10y ago
The answer to what you're asking is quoted in that very article: > An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could disable code integrity checks, allowing test-signed executables and drivers to be loaded on a target device. In addition, an attacker could bypass the Secure Boot Integrity Validation for BitLocker and the Device Encryption security features. Microsoft is patching the device, despite it being a dead product, to avoid screwing actual users of the product. Sorry to the ones of people using it with Linux, I guess, but being able to subvert BitLocker and device encryption is kind of bad, yeah?
- userbinator 10y ago
  I personally think if you have physical access then it's game over anyway. Besides, AFAIK if a drive is encrypted then you would not be able to decrypt it without the correct key, unless they did something very un-crypto-like with BitLocker...
  - pritambaral 10y ago
    > then you would not be able to decrypt it without the correct key You're correct. So an attacker will now attempt obtaining the correct key, by targeting the pre-decryption stages and infecting any layer that has access to the decryption key. If the bootloader's the one that asks for the user for the disk decryption key, then the bootloader would be the prime target of infection. And so on, it's turtles all the way down, until the hardware; which is what gives Intel the excuse to ship locked down firmware with their processors and motherboards.
- kchoudhu 10y ago
  I guess. Of course, if you're using BitLocker to store anything of value...
- throwaway2048 10y ago
  You realize this applies to any device you can install a different OS on right?
akerro 10y ago
Because MS loves and embraces linux.

eropple 10y ago

The answer to what you're asking is quoted in that very article: > An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could disable code integrity checks, allowing test-signed executables and drivers to be loaded on a target device. In addition, an attacker could bypass the Secure Boot Integrity Validation for BitLocker and the Device Encryption security features. Microsoft is patching the device, despite it being a dead product, to avoid screwing actual users of the product. Sorry to the ones of people using it with Linux, I guess, but being able to subvert BitLocker and device encryption is kind of bad, yeah?

userbinator 10y ago
I personally think if you have physical access then it's game over anyway. Besides, AFAIK if a drive is encrypted then you would not be able to decrypt it without the correct key, unless they did something very un-crypto-like with BitLocker...
- pritambaral 10y ago
  > then you would not be able to decrypt it without the correct key You're correct. So an attacker will now attempt obtaining the correct key, by targeting the pre-decryption stages and infecting any layer that has access to the decryption key. If the bootloader's the one that asks for the user for the disk decryption key, then the bootloader would be the prime target of infection. And so on, it's turtles all the way down, until the hardware; which is what gives Intel the excuse to ship locked down firmware with their processors and motherboards.
kchoudhu 10y ago
I guess. Of course, if you're using BitLocker to store anything of value...
throwaway2048 10y ago
You realize this applies to any device you can install a different OS on right?

akerro 10y ago

Because MS loves and embraces linux.