Linux developers are in the process of patching a high-severity vulnerability that, in certain cases, allows the installation of malware that runs at the firmware level, giving infections access to the deepest parts of a device where they’re hard to detect or remove.
The vulnerability resides in shim, which in the context of Linux is a small component that runs in the firmware early in the boot process before the operating system has started.
While these hurdles are steep, they’re by no means impossible, particularly the ability to compromise or impersonate a server that communicates with devices over HTTP, which is unencrypted and requires no authentication.
These particular scenarios could prove useful if an attacker has already gained some level of access inside a network and is looking to take control of connected end-user devices.
In that case, the attacker would first have to forge the digital certificate the server uses to prove it’s authorized to provide boot firmware to devices.
And, of course, already obtaining administrative control through exploiting a separate vulnerability in the operating system is hard and allows attackers to achieve all kinds of malicious objectives.
The original article contains 493 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
“An attacker would need to be able to coerce a system into booting from HTTP if it’s not already doing so, and either be in a position to run the HTTP server in question or MITM traffic to it,” - Matthew Garrett
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Linux developers are in the process of patching a high-severity vulnerability that, in certain cases, allows the installation of malware that runs at the firmware level, giving infections access to the deepest parts of a device where they’re hard to detect or remove.
The vulnerability resides in shim, which in the context of Linux is a small component that runs in the firmware early in the boot process before the operating system has started.
While these hurdles are steep, they’re by no means impossible, particularly the ability to compromise or impersonate a server that communicates with devices over HTTP, which is unencrypted and requires no authentication.
These particular scenarios could prove useful if an attacker has already gained some level of access inside a network and is looking to take control of connected end-user devices.
In that case, the attacker would first have to forge the digital certificate the server uses to prove it’s authorized to provide boot firmware to devices.
And, of course, already obtaining administrative control through exploiting a separate vulnerability in the operating system is hard and allows attackers to achieve all kinds of malicious objectives.
The original article contains 493 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 62%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
“An attacker would need to be able to coerce a system into booting from HTTP if it’s not already doing so, and either be in a position to run the HTTP server in question or MITM traffic to it,” - Matthew Garrett
Summary left out a quite important bit.
Security people sure are an enthusiastic bunch of fellows.