Just update the microcode (was: Re: defending against evil in all layers of hardware and software)
alex at alten.org
alex at alten.org
Tue Apr 29 00:12:14 EDT 2008
No need to be a major power. Linux patches x86 code, as does Windows. I ran across a project several years ago that modified the microcode for some i/o x86 assembly instructions. Here's a good link explaining it all.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcode
All this hw/sw flexibility makes designing a good security system a real challenge. You need a reference monitor somewhere in it that you can truly trust.
- Alex
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Ioannidis" <ji at tla.org>
> To: Cryptography <cryptography at metzdowd.com>
> Subject: Just update the microcode (was: Re: defending against
> evil in all layers of hardware and software)
> Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:16:12 -0400
>
>
> Intel and AMD processors can have new microcode loaded to them, and
> this is usually done by the BIOS. Presumably there is some
> asymmetric crypto involved with the processor doing the signature
> validation.
>
> A major power that makes a good fraction of the world's laptops and
> desktops (and hence controls the circuitry and the BIOS, even if
> they do not control the chip manufacturing process) would be in a
> good place to introduce problems that way, no?
>
> /ji
>
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