Researchers circumvent security on Intel’s vPro

Rafal Wojtczuk and Joanna Rutkowska of Invisible Things Lab said that they will demonstrate practical attacks on Intel's Trusted Execution Technology (TXT) during the Black Hat 2009 conference in Washington DC.
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Before things get out of hand, there are two things to note that should dispel any FUD from spreading. The first item of note is that Intel is well aware of the research, the talk and everything related to the issue that Joanna and Rafal will discuss. The other note is that while the TXT is available on TXT/vPro hardware, it is so new and under deployed that there is little to panic over.

TXT is presently apart of Intel’s vPro brand, as a key part of the Safer Computing initiative launched by the chipmaker. TXT makes extensive use of the Trusted Platform Module (TPM 1.2). In addition to being comprised of a set of extensions to the CPU as well as the chipset.

If you have a laptop that was purchased within the last year or so you have TPM already. TXT adds to this, offering a layer of security that is seen to have a good deal of promise when it comes to system security. (TPM resides in Vista and if you are familiar with BitLocker then you already know its value.)

The presentation at Black Hat will center on “how an attacker can compromise the integrity of software loaded via an Intel TXT-based loader in a generic way,” a press release from Invisible Things Lab says.

“We have created a proof-of-concept code that demonstrates the successful attack against tboot — Intel's implementation of the trusted boot process for Xen and Linux. 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.”

For now, Intel is remaining silent. They are only confirming that they are aware of the research, and that they are working with Invisible Things Lab.

Black Hat DC takes place in February.

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BY Steve Ragan
Source：The Tech Herald