Logic Signal Analyzer on Intel Processors Would Allow Spyware Operations at Lowest Level Possible
March 29th, 2019Via: ZDNet:
At the Black Hat Asia 2019 security conference, security researchers from Positive Technologies disclosed the existence of a previously unknown and undocumented feature in Intel chipsets.
Called Intel Visualization of Internal Signals Architecture (Intel VISA), Positive Technologies researchers Maxim Goryachy and Mark Ermolov said this is a new utility included in modern Intel chipsets to help with testing and debugging on manufacturing lines.
VISA is included with Platform Controller Hub (PCH) chipsets part of modern Intel CPUs and works like a full-fledged logic signal analyzer.
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Unauthorized access to the VISA feature would allow a threat actor to intercept data from the computer memory and create spyware that works at the lowest possible level.
But despite its extremely intrusive nature, very little is known about this new technology. Goryachy and Ermolov said VISA’s documentation is subject to a non-disclosure agreement, and not available to the general public.
Normally, this combination of secrecy and a secure default should keep Intel users safe from possible attacks and abuse.
However, the two researchers said they found several methods of enabling VISA and abusing it to sniff data that passes through the CPU, and even through the secretive Intel Management Engine (ME), which has been housed in the PCH since the release of the Nehalem processors and 5-Series chipsets.
