Pipe 3DZ USB vector for computer viruses

USB vector for computer viruses

by
in security on (#3DZ)
An interesting discussion appeared on MacRumors today pointing to the work of security researcher Karsten Nohl of Berlin's SR Labs. He has discovered an attack vector exploiting the firmware of generic USB devices. It appears that with the vector involves reprogramming the USB controller software for arbitrary devices which can than emulate other devices to cause a large variety of undesired outcomes (such as emulating a keyboard to type on behalf of a user or spoofing a network card and redirecting web traffic). At present, this attack vector appears to be impossible to prevent or detect with existing software-only security measures. A more detailed discussion of Nohl's work and the associated risk are available from Wired or the SR Labs website itself.

A notable quote from the Wired article: "Blaze speculates that the USB attack may in fact already be common practice for the NSA. He points to a spying device known as Cottonmouth, revealed earlier this year in the leaks of Edward Snowden. The device, which hid in a USB peripheral plug, was advertised in a collection of NSA internal documents as surreptitiously installing malware on a target’s machine. The exact mechanism for that USB attack wasn’t described. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the things [Nohl and Lell] discovered are what we heard about in the NSA catalogue....The alternative is to treat USB devices like hypodermic needles."

History


Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /var/pipedot/include/diff.php on line 25

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiff::$granularityStack is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 217

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiff::$edits is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 218

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiff::$from_text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 219

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiff::$last_edit is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 372

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiff::$stackpointer is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 373

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiff::$from_offset is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 375

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffInsertOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 104

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffCopyOp::$len is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 155

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffDeleteOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 86

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$fromLen is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 126

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffReplaceOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 127

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property FineDiffInsertOp::$text is deprecated in /var/pipedot/lib/finediff/finediff.php on line 104
2014-08-01 19:00
USB vector for computer viruses
zafiro17@pipedot.org
An interesting discussion appeared on MacRumors today pointing to the work of security researcher Karsten Nohl of Berlin's SR Labs. He has discovered an attack vector exploiting the firmware of generic USB devices. It appears that with the vector involves reprogramming the USB controller software for arbitrary devices which can than emulate other devices to cause a large variety of undesired outcomes (such as emulating a keyboard to type on behalf of a user or spoofing a network card and redirecting web traffic). At present, this attack vector appears to be impossible to prevent or detect with existing software-only security measures. A more detailed discussion of Nohl's work and the associated risk are available from Wired or the SR Labs website itself.

A notable quote from the Wired article:
"Blaze speculates that the USB attack may in fact already be common practice for the NSA. He points to a spying device known as Cottonmouth, revealed earlier this year in the leaks of Edward Snowden. The device, which hid in a USB peripheral plug, was advertised in a collection of NSA internal documents as surreptitiously installing malware on a target’'s machine. The exact mechanism for that USB attack wasn’'t described. I wouldn’'t be surprised if some of the things [Nohl and Lell] discovered are what we heard about in the NSA catalogue....The alternative is to treat USB devices like hypodermic needles."</br/lockquote>
Reply 0 comments