3 ms·
I believe USB presents a much smaller attack surface since it has no direct memory access, apparently in contrast to SATA.
by _emacsomancer_ 8y ago
I believe USB presents a much smaller attack surface since it has no direct memory access, apparently in contrast to SATA.
- monocasa 8y agoSATA doesn't allow for DMA from the target device. SATA controllers can DMA, but that's not different from how NICs and USB controllers typically typically DMA. The target addresses are ultimately controlled by the device on the host side. Like USB it feels more like a traditional network protocol than a traditional bus protocol. PCI-E does DMA, and AFAIU was inspired by Infiniband (another RDMA protocol).
- _emacsomancer_ 8y agoMy understanding is that it was easier for SATA controllers to do DMA than it was for USB controllers, but I have a fairly limited understanding.