Re: [PLUG] Intel SA-00086 critical BIOS update

[Rich Freeman <r-plug@thefreemanclan.net>]

On Sat, Jan 6, 2018 at 1:16 PM, Will <staticphantom@gmail.com> wrote:
> I believe that was Meltdown Aaron.
>

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of Spectre being triggered by
javascript, but it would be difficult.  In order to execute Spectre
the malicious code needs to be able to call a vulnerable target
function.  Sandboxes don't usually let function calls through.
Processes that can execute arbitrary code are more of an issue.

Meltdown does not require subverting a function that already has
access to privileged memory.  It bypasses the privilege checks in the
CPU to access virtual memory outside of its ring.  This would
definitely be easier to pull off on a vulnerable CPU (Intel only I
think).

So far the Spectre attacks on Intel cannot be completely prevented
only by the use of firmware updates, though some of the solutions
being discussed require a microcode update as part of the solution.

-- 
Rich
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug