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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the get-your-patches-here dept.

It's time to update your Management Engine:

Intel has issued a security alert that management firmware on a number of recent PC, server, and Internet-of-Things processor platforms are vulnerable to remote attack. Using the vulnerabilities, the most severe of which was uncovered by Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy of Positive Technologies Research, remote attackers could launch commands on a host of Intel-based computers, including laptops and desktops shipped with Intel Core processors since 2015. They could gain access to privileged system information, and millions of computers could essentially be taken over as a result of the bug. Most of the vulnerabilities require physical access to the targeted device, but one allows remote attacks with administrative access.

The company has posted a detection tool on its support website for Windows and Linux to help identify systems that are vulnerable. In the security alert, members of Intel's security team stated that "in response to issues identified by external researchers, Intel has performed an in-depth comprehensive security review of its Intel® Management Engine (ME), Intel® Trusted Execution Engine (TXE), and Intel® Server Platform Services (SPS) with the objective of enhancing firmware resilience."

Intel® Management Engine Critical Firmware Update (Intel SA-00086)

U.S. government warns about cyber bug in Intel chips

The U.S. government on Tuesday urged businesses to act on an Intel Corp alert about security flaws in widely used computer chips as industry researchers scrambled to understand the impact of the newly disclosed vulnerability.

The Department of Homeland Security gave the guidance a day after Intel said it had identified security vulnerabilities in remote-management software known as 'Management Engine' that shipped with eight types of processors used in business computers sold by Dell Technologies, Lenovo, HP Inc, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and other manufacturers."

Security experts said that it was not clear how difficult it would be to exploit the vulnerabilities to launch attacks, though they found the disclosure troubling because the affected chips were widely used.

"These vulnerabilities affect essentially every business computer and server with an Intel processor released in the last two years," said Jay Little, a security engineer with cyber consulting firm Trail of Bits.

The official warning is here. Good luck to everybody! Good luck.

Also at Reuters and the EFF.


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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:25PM (16 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:25PM (#600622) Homepage Journal

    Well I guess I'll add not owning a computer with a hardware rootkit to my list of shat to be thankful for this year. Right next to having eaten enough fish out of the freezers this year that I can start filling them again.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
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  • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:30PM (2 children)

    by bradley13 (3053) on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:30PM (#600625) Homepage Journal

    "Well I guess I'll add not owning a computer with a hardware rootkit to my list of shat to be thankful for this year."

    Well, anyway, no hardware rootkit that you know about...

    --
    Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
  • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:37PM (12 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday November 23 2017, @12:37PM (#600629) Homepage

    We don't give a shit about hardware rootkits as much as we give a shit about hardware debonings. Also, NIGGERS.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:07PM (8 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:07PM (#600638) Homepage Journal

      It's turkey day not fried chicken day. Speaking of, that stereotype annoys me. Not because racial stereotypes annoy me (They don't. I'm not a whiny bitch.) but because it's a shitty stereotype. Basically anyone who grew up poor before the price of chicken went way the hell up loves fried chicken unless their mom sucked at making fried chicken.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by bradley13 on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:20PM (5 children)

        by bradley13 (3053) on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:20PM (#600641) Homepage Journal

        Fried chicken is a southern specialty, and my grandmother made it probably once a week. Yum.

        Same for watermelon: how the heck is watermelon supposed to be a racist symbol? Does some group have green, stripy skin? Maybe those little green critters from Mars?

        Whoever is trying to label things like these as racist is just part of the larger attack on southern culture. Screw 'em.

        --
        Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:31PM (2 children)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:31PM (#600643) Journal

          It's the lizard people. Next time you go to a fried chicken place, watch the people around you. People like you and I pick, nibble, and munch all around the bone. Lizard people just inhaled the whole thing. The teeth are fake, so they can't chew. But, anything they can get past those fake teeth goes right down. Kinda like snakes, but with legs.

          • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Thursday November 23 2017, @03:48PM

            by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 23 2017, @03:48PM (#600696)

            Why do we keep electing those lizard people, any way?

            “I come in peace,” it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, “take me to your Lizard.”

            […Ford explains to Arthur…] “It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see…”

            “You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?”

            “No,” said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him, “nothing so simple. Nothing anything like so straightforward. On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people.”

            “Odd,” said Arthur, “I thought you said it was a democracy.”

            “I did,” said Ford. “It is.”

            “So,” said Arthur, hoping he wasn’t sounding ridiculously obtuse, “why don’t the people get rid of the lizards?”

            “It honestly doesn’t occur to them,” said Ford. “They’ve all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they’ve voted in more or less approximates to the government they want.”

            “You mean they actually vote for the lizards?”

            “Oh yes,” said Ford with a shrug, “of course.”

            “But,” said Arthur, going for the big one again, “why?”

            “Because if they didn’t vote for a lizard,” said Ford, “the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?”

          • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 23 2017, @08:56PM

            by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday November 23 2017, @08:56PM (#600816) Homepage

            Here in San Diego the best fried chicken joints are run by asians. They serve gizzards and catfish too. Their secret is cooking everything in the chicken grease.

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:40PM

          by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday November 23 2017, @01:40PM (#600648) Homepage Journal

          I know, right? Fucking carpetbagging, snare-drumming, yankee lawyers. Them som-bitches could fuck up a county fair.

          --
          My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 23 2017, @03:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 23 2017, @03:08PM (#600678)

          Same for watermelon: how the heck is watermelon supposed to be a racist symbol?

          Look at the flag of mexico, what colors do you see?

      • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 23 2017, @08:45PM (1 child)

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday November 23 2017, @08:45PM (#600810) Homepage

        Don't ask me, when my family were poor it was ramen noodles all day every day. Once in awhile they would get sausage. But yeah, chicken was always out of the picture back in our poor days.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 23 2017, @04:46PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 23 2017, @04:46PM (#600709)

      Another day on the 'net. Stupid people saying stupid things.

    • (Score: 2) by EETech1 on Thursday November 23 2017, @11:36PM (1 child)

      by EETech1 (957) on Thursday November 23 2017, @11:36PM (#600874)

      So, Eth...
      Sounds like you're having wild turkey for Thanksgiving...
      :)
      Cheers

      • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday November 23 2017, @11:54PM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday November 23 2017, @11:54PM (#600880) Homepage

        I am eating good food. All homemade by others who care about me.

        The best part of it, though, is that I do it all on my own terms.

        Happy thanksgiving to you, brother.