Hardware makers have lagged behind in protecting even the latest systems from attacks through their ports, leaving users' and companies' systems open to exploit by anyone who can snag some alone time with the targeted system, security firm Eclypsium stated in a report published on January 30.
The attacks exploit the direct memory access, or DMA, feature of some computers and servers which allow peripherals to directly access the system's memory. In a recent test of two modern laptops, security researchers at the firm found that they could easily compromise the systems — one through a port and the other through a supply chain–type attack by opening the case — even though firmware makers have solutions available to mitigate the DMA security issues, says Jesse Michael, principal researcher with Eclypsium.
"This is something has been traditionally difficult for people to fix," he says. "Because even though there are security features and capabilities and protections that are being put into silicon and the hardware by Intel and the chipset vendors, ... it takes a while for the different vendors to write code that enables and actually configures these hardware protections to secure the system before it gets into customer hands."
Not a New IssueThe attacks are not new. In 2016, Ulf Frisk, a security researcher based in Sweden, published PCILeech, a program that compromises systems through ports to give direct high-speed access to a system's memory. Such ports are often used to drive an external monitor, allow a graphics upgrade, or expand memory. A December 2016 video of the attack shows him enterprise hardware still vulnerable memory attacks
