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Intel breathes a sigh of relief as the spotlight moves off of them for a beat.

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[-] db2@lemmy.world 6 points 3 months ago

It does mean that any secondhand computer or CPU (or even CPU from a sketchy source) could be compromised prior to being physically sold.

It's worse than that, any AMD chip from any source except maybe AMD directly is suspect. Mine is a few years old from Amazon supposedly new, for all I know it came compromised and is sitting there doing what I tell it to until it triggers and I won't even know when or if it happens.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

That's not how this exploit works at all...you have to have physical access to the machine basically. This is a nothing burger.

[-] db2@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

That's to get it installed, not if it's already there.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 0 points 3 months ago

It's not going to be there because if you're compromised via physical access, no one is going to give a shit about this exploit.... it's like someone having the keys to your house and then being worried they're going to smash out a window to gain access.

[-] db2@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago

I don't think you're following along here. The physical access would have already happened prior to the CPU even being in my possession.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

I see what you're saying. You're assuming someone grabbed a bunch of cpus, fucked with them, then tossed them back into the box and sold them as new.

[-] db2@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

Exactly, if I were a bad actor with access to the stock that's what I'd do. I'm sure there are multiple points along the supply chain where it could potentially happen.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

That's true, seems like you'd need to know where they're going though, like a ton of work just to hopefully get one machine infected that has anything on it.

[-] rhombus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

If I understand it correctly, the chip has the vulnerability, but the malware would be installed on the motherboard in the form of a bootkit. So getting a used CPU is not a threat, but getting a used motherboard is (and kind of always has been) a risk.

[-] db2@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago

It allows for adulteration of firmware, the CPU has firmware. 🤷

[-] rhombus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

CPU firmware exploits are incredibly rare, if there even are any that exist beyond proof-of-concept. The chances of getting an infected CPU from this is so unlikely it’s practically impossible.

[-] db2@lemmy.world 1 points 3 months ago

You forget that the CPU has a nanny CPU built in these days.

[-] rhombus@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 months ago

Which, again, is an incredibly unlikely attack vector unless you have some government secrets on your computer. And chances are that any attack through the IME or PSP is trying to do an implant into the UEFI/BIOS and not the processor itself.

this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2024
208 points (83.3% liked)

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