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> And such a hypothetical backdoor may not be patchable AT ALL. Intel microcode can be loaded at runtime. If there's a backdoor in the microcode then it can, b
by mjg59 4y ago
> And such a hypothetical backdoor may not be patchable AT ALL.
Intel microcode can be loaded at runtime. If there's a backdoor in the microcode then it can, by definition, be patched.
- pitaj 4y agoPretty sure the microcode could be changed to deny a patch, since it has the most privileged level of control on the system.
- mjg59 4y agoMicrocode isn't persistent - on reboot you'll be running whatever version was in the CPU at manufacturing time. That means there's a path to booting to a known-good environment and updating the firmware, which will then load patched microcode before any attacker-controlled code can run.