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Is there a way to replace board firmware with a hacked one that hides its alterations ny emularing ROM accesses? It could then also patch the secure boot checks
by gmueckl 7y ago
Is there a way to replace board firmware with a hacked one that hides its alterations ny emularing ROM accesses? It could then also patch the secure boot checks out of the OS during system boot. Such a firmware would only be detectable by desoldering the flash chips and using a dedicated hardware reader.
If that is the case, every computer could be fundamentally compromised if you left it out of sight for long enough.
- AnthonyMouse 7y agoYou don't even have to replace the board firmware. You can just replace the board, or the entire device, with one that does whatever you want. Like emulate whatever the real device does until the user enters their PIN and then send it back to the attacker via wireless. There are a lot of different threat models here. The problem is that for the serious ones, like a state-level attacker, anything but continuous physical security is hopeless. But for the less serious ones, all of this faux spycraft is nothing but an excuse for anti-consumer behavior because the path of least resistance for your kids to get into your phone is by shoulder surfing your PIN, not using 0-days to install custom device firmware etc.