Deep Dive 5 threats affecting hardware (Part-3)

Certain firmware responsible for managing discrete hardware components has been getting increasingly complex and is subject to vulnerabilities and exploits. The worst thing is, that in many cases existing threat detection systems are impotent.

To cast some light onto this alarming trend, let's review one by one the top 5 dangerous hardware vulnerabilities that have recently been found in today's PCs. Today we bring you the third installment:

#3: the USB interface

The third position in our rating is occupied by a vulnerability (a bit outdated yet still notorious) which affects the USB interface. Recent news wiped the dust off this long-familiar bug. As you know, the latest Apple MacBook and Google Pixel laptops are equipped with the universal USB port which is used, among other things, for plugging in a charger.

Nothing is wrong with that, at first sight, and the newest USB revision presents an elegant approach to interface unification. However, connecting just any device through a USB is not always safe. We have already told you about BadUSB, a critical vulnerability discovered last summer.

This bug allows you to inject malicious code into the USB device controller (whether that of a thumbdrive, or a keyboard, or anything else). No antivirus, including the most powerful products, is able to detect it there. Those who are extremely concerned about their data safety should listen to IT Security experts who recommend that you stop using USB ports all together, in order to mitigate the risks. As for the newest MacBook laptops, this advice is useless: anyway, the device should be charged!

Skeptics might point out that it is impossible to inject a malicious code into the charger (as it contains no data storage). But this 'issue' can be addressed by 'enhancing' the charger (a PoC describing the method of infecting an iPhone through the charger was presented over two years ago).

Having injected the malware into the charger, the only thing an attacker would have to take care of is placing the 'Trojanized' charger in a public area, or otherwise replacing the original charger if the attack is targeted.