[Cryptography] Intel Management Engine pwnd

James A. Donald jamesd at echeque.com
Tue Nov 28 20:57:00 EST 2017


When used in accordance with official use, it listens on a certain port, 
like any other service.

But since normal code manages listening on ports, how does the 
management engine do this.  How does the management engine hook your 
tcp-ip stack?

For your tcp-ip stack is implemented by diverse operating systems in 
diverse hardware and software.

Suppose, for example, you installed ubuntu. Obviously your ubuntu 
software does not provide this port number and this service.  Your intel 
chip, in order to provide a service on that port, is going to have to do 
something the authors of Ubuntu did not expect.  What is it doing?  It 
is going to have to hack Ubuntu.  Listening on a port is not a chip 
level function.

This seems fragile, complex, and likely to break. Suppose you install an 
unexpected operating system.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus



More information about the cryptography mailing list