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All your CPUs belong to us
As if writing software without exploits is hard enough, now we have the most
popular computer architecture, the Intel x86 line of CPU (Central Processing
Unit)s, with a potential hole large enough to drive the NSA (National
Security Agency) [1] through. In a DEF CON talk [2], Christopher Domas shows
how he found an exploit on a particular version of the x86 CPU that allowed
him to gain total control over the computer without the operating system even
knowing about it. All it involved is one undocumented instruction that
enables access to a hidden CPU inside the x86 CPU (or rather, perhaps allow
direct access to the underlying core that is simply interpreting the x86 ISA
(Instruction Set Architecture)) followed by multiple copies of an x86
instruction that actually feeds instructions directly to this inner CPU that
bypass all system checks because this inner CPU has access to everything
(from user mode, and if you understand that statement, you know how bad it
is).
As mentioned, this is only for a particular x86 implementation, but who knows
what evils lurk in the heart of CPUs?
Probably the NSA (National Security Agency).
[1]
https://www.nsa.gov/
[2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmTwlEh8L7g
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