5 ms·
Intel Management Engine Critical Firmware Update
- ajdlinux 9y agoWhat's changed in this advisory since it was first issued November 20? Just more vendor links?
- chinathrow 9y agoI wonder the long term effect on unpatched MEs out there. What would a skilled attacker use it for? Hack nearby laptops of folks within the cryptocurrency world?
- bhouston 9y agoCould one write a worm that worked purely on the Intel me, spread machine to machine via me Ethernet monitoring, that could then look at the local hd for crypto keys and report them back to a remote server? Is the above theoretically possible?
- Erlich_Bachman 9y agoYes, it's a general-purpose processor inside your processor.
- MichaelGG 9y agoUsing which exploit? Quoting the article: " The vulnerability identified in CVE-2017-5712 is exploitable remotely over the network in conjunction with a valid administrative Intel® Management Engine credential. The vulnerability is not exploitable if a valid administrative credential is unavailable." So where is the Ethernet level remote vulnerability? The rest require physical access.
- ComputerGuru 9y agoI think the gps meant “hypothetically” and not “theoretically,” presuming some future vulnerability
- userbinator 9y agoI envision a worm that disables the ME completely once it's found and "infected" another few. Perhaps show a message that says "Your computer is now owned... by you." That would certainly raise some interesting discussion about ethics...
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 9y agoWhile this is possible, people with dark motives are clearly incentivized more.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- zokier 9y agoBased on what I've read so far, in my opinion the biggest risk from ME comes from targeted evil maid style scenarios. And I'm not sure if even in those limited conditions ME is reliably exploitable. So I'm more annoyed than panicking right now.
- mark_l_watson 9y agoApple is not on vendor list. Q: Why not?
- SpikeDad 9y agoI remove the drivers during deployment. How much does that reduce the vulnerability footprint? Assuming that Lenovo has indeed enabled the firmware write protect feature that Intel describes?
- pmorici 9y agoNot installing the drivers prevents your OS from interacting with ME but I don't think it changes the fact that ME has exceptional access to your computer.
- AdmiralAsshat 9y agoSo is this actually a critical vulnerability, or is this just Intel plugging one of the recently-found exploits that lets us disable the IME?
- canada_dry 9y agoBING BING BING Guaranteed it's the latter. Intel isn't about to give up the huge contracts it has with NSA.
- rubatuga 9y agoAny proof?
- hateduser2 9y agoThe only way there could ever be proof of such a thing would be from whistleblowers and that would be major news (or so I believe).
- CamperBob2 9y agoAfter the Snowden disclosures -- never mind the whole Room 641A business ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A ) -- I think the only safe assumption is bad faith on the part of both government and industry. In fact, that's the whole problem with extrajudicial domestic spying. In defiance of the principles of both justice and logic, the innocent are presumed guilty, and the burden of proof is shifted to the skeptics.
- slededit 9y agoThere isn't anyway to know for sure but its extremely suspicious that they will not release the off switch despite already having developed it for the US government.
- api 9y agoWhat value does the ME actually offer the user? Why is it even there?
- 0xcde4c3db 9y agoAs far as I've read, it's more targeted at corporate deployments when the owner/administrator and user aren't the same person or authority. It allows things like remotely reimaging the machine if the OS install gets screwed up, deleting encryption keys if the machine is stolen or otherwise compromised, verifying that the mandatory "endpoint protection suite" is actually running, etc..
- e12e 9y agoYou can remotely wake-on-wlan (maybe even 4/5g modem) - remote control, install Os, software - it's a management engine. And it's quite terrifying in its power. But sure, it's potentially useful - it's just a shame it's closed, so it's more of a liability/flaw than a feature.
- partycoder 9y agoThe Intel Management Engine IS the vulnerability. Read this like: We are patching our backdoor so no one but us and our undisclosed friends can own you whenever we want.
- agumonkey 9y agoThis could prove harmful. If people analyze the patch they might get more information
- Animats 9y agoIntel: A status of may be Vulnerable is usually seen when either of the following drivers aren't installed: Intel® Management Engine Interface (Intel® MEI) driver Intel® Trusted Execution Engine Interface (Intel® TXEI) driver If adding closed-source Intel drivers is a "fix" for a vulnerablity, that sounds like a way to get a Trojan onto your system. Who audits Intel?