[MacTUG] of possible interest: Intel flaw hits Apple computers (at least)

[Marlon A. Griffith]

Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2018 03:23:47 +0000
From: Patrick Matlock <pmatlock at uwaterloo.ca>


<In a blog 
post<http://blog.ptsecurity.com/2018/10/intel-me-manufacturing-mode-macbook.html> 
on Tuesday, researchers Maxim Goryachy and Mark Ermolov, involved in the 
discovery of an Intel ME firmware 
flaw<https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/20/intel_flags_firmware_f> 
last year, reveal that Chipzilla's ME contains an undocumented 
Manufacturing Mode, among its other little known features like High 
Assurance Platform 
mode<https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/29/intel_management_engine_can_be_disabled/>.>


<As Apple put it in its 
description<https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208849> of the firmware 
issue, "A malicious application with root privileges may be able to 
modify the EFI flash memory region."

Goryachy and Ermolov have posted Python code on 
GitHub<https://github.com/ptresearch/mmdetect> to allow end-users with 
the appropriate Intel chips to check whether Manufacturing Mode has been 
disabled. They have previously described how to 
disable<http://blog.ptsecurity.com/2017/08/disabling-intel-me.html> 
Intel's Management Engine entirely.>



https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/03/intel_management_engine_hole/

[https://regmedia.co.uk/2018/10/03/shutterstock_1129256924.jpg]<https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/03/intel_management_engine_hole/>

Apple forgot to lock Intel Management Engine in laptops, so get patching 
• The 
Register<https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/10/03/intel_management_engine_hole/>
www.theregister.co.uk
Chipzilla's security through obscurity withers under scrutiny