3 ms·
You'd still need some kind of software support to trigger the exploit. At which point you may as well go with a software-only attack.
by pmjordan 16y ago
You'd still need some kind of software support to trigger the exploit. At which point you may as well go with a software-only attack.
- wladimir 16y agoNaah, if it's simply a few added instructions I agree with you. But let's think in a wider scope (disclaimer: this is not my idea, I remember reading about it a long time ago): what if a certain cryptographic "magic code" at the beginning of a memory page would trigger the execution of arbitrary code embedded in that page? Such a thing could be triggered over the network, wireless through bluetooth/wifi, or by specially crafted images on a webpage, or whatever creative technique you can think of. It'd effectively give the govt instant root access to any device with the affected CPUs.
- stcredzero 16y agoStuff like this would be easy to hide in the guise of "Hardware DRM."
- wladimir 16y agoYes, I guess on-processor DRM and any kind of virtualisation (will the real hypervisor please stand up?) are prime suspects for this kind of thing. But they are also the most obvious, it could be cramped into everything. It'd be mighty interesting to tear apart / scan / reverse engineer some modern CPUs like they did with the 6502. Then again, these beasts are so complex that's similar to looking for a needle in a galaxy-sized haystack.