Re: unfixable usb porthole

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Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Thursday 16 October 2014 18:28:16 Greg KH did opine
> And Gene did reply:
>> On Thu, Oct 16, 2014 at 06:12:48PM -0400, Gene Heskett wrote:
>>> Is there a move afoot to write a checker utility that determines if
>>> the usb device its pointed at is vulnerable, and can therefore be
>>> reliably blacklisted?
>>
>> What do you mean by a "vulnerable" USB device?
>
> There is an exploitable error in the usb hardware/firmware, one that
> nearly 100% of the devices have.

That "error" is the fact that USB devices have a CPU which can execute
arbitrary code.  The "BadUSB" guys have shown that several widely-used
USB sticks allow the PC to change their firmware, but building USB
devices with malicious firmware has _always_ been possible; the only
difference is that the hardware costs have gone down from $40 for
a Rubber Ducky to $10 for an off-the-shelf memory stick.

> No one ever gave security a seconds thought when writing the usb std.  As
> described it is both hardware and firmware that will need to be addressed
> for an effective fix.

So you want to blacklist every device (USB or any other bus) that can be
connect to a PC?  And outlaw general-purpose computers?


Regards,
Clemens
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