News

Security Researchers Find Hole in Intel's vPro

• By Joab Jackson
• January 07, 2009

Intel appears to be taking the claims of this vulnerability seriously, given the researchers' reputation in the field of IT security as well as the work they've already submitted to the microprocessor company; George Alfrs, an Intel spokesperson, said the company has worked with Rutkowska in the past on other security-related matters.

"This is something we are looking at," Alfrs said.

Neither Intel nor the researchers would discuss the technical details of the vulnerability. Alfrs noted that the company has seen no malicious code that exploits the vulnerability.

According to a statement released by the lab, the attack is based on design flaws within Intel's Trusted Execution Technology (TXT). TXT, part of the Intel vPro offering, is a set of extensions to the CPU and the chipset that allow protected memory and monitored booting. It also offers either local or remote verification through the Trusted Platform Module crypto-processors.

"Our research shows how an attacker can compromise the integrity of a software loaded via an Intel TXT-based loader in a generic way," the researchers wrote in a statement. They claim to have written sample code that subverts the trusted boot process (called tboot) for Linux and the Xen virtualization software.

"Our attack comprises two stages. The first stage requires an implementation flaw in a specific system software. The second stage of the attack is possible thanks to a certain design decision made in the current TXT release," they wrote.

The researchers said they submitted the details of the flaw to Intel in December. Alfrs confirmed that the lab did submit the bug report and that Intel is working with Wojtczuk and Rutkowska to understand the findings.

Since vPro-enhanced microprocessors are a relatively new offering, the technology has not been widely deployed yet, so the danger for misuse is relatively limited, the researchers said. However, one software product that uses the technology is Citrix's Xen virtualization software.

VPro is an Intel-specific implementation of the Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware (DASH), a standard set of interfaces for managing desktop and laptop computers over a network. The vPro interface is a feature on the current versions of the Intel Core 2 Duo and Centrino microprocessors.