Remote Malware Injection Via Flaw In Network Card 49
kfz-versicherung writes "During the CanSecWest international conference in Vancouver, members of ANSSI described how an attacker could be able to exploit a flaw to run arbitrary code inside some network controllers (full presentation; PDF). The attack uses routable packets delivered to the victim's NIC. Consequently, multiple attacks can be conducted including man-in-the-middle attacks on network connections, access to cryptographic keys on the host platform, or malware injection on the victim's computer host platform."
Not a big surprise (Score:5, Insightful)
This points out a simple problem (Score:5, Insightful)
As devices become more and more complex, device functions that were once embedded within a chip are now being implemented by embedded computer systems which are tiny processors, ROM and RAM. And these devices interface with our computers through Direct Memory Access in some form or another and they get access to our computer's memory. If you think it is getting harder to find a virus in a running Windows installation, try finding one in your network cards or other devices.
While the "article" (it's a frikken PDF) says that this has been tested by invading a network card through a normally disabled management interface, what about other means of infection?
What I am saying is this: Once malware gets into the computer, all other devices are increasingly at risk of being a target for being compromised to enable secondary infections even after the hard drive is wiped out... even after the hard drive is replaced. Get some malware stuck inside your system board's controllers and you are either trying to figure out how to reflash every chip on that board, or you're buying a new board.
Re:ASF hero (Score:2, Insightful)