New Attack Targets Intel Processors

Category: CPU's
Posted: March 20, 2009 08:57AM
Author: CheeseMan42

Researcher Johanna Rutkowska of Invisible Things Lab has developed an attack that goes right to the heart of your computer, the processor. The attack targets Intel processors and their virtualization technology. The attack infiltrates System Management Mode, which is at a lower level than even the kernel. The BIOS is normally the only way to access the SMM, but the new exploit allows a user to alter this to run malicious code. However, there is little reason to worry as it doesn’t affect all chipsets. Also, it is difficult to execute without extensive knowledge of the system and a significant investment of time.

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