HackerTube / Video
The Memory Sinkhole - Unleashing An X86 Design Flaw Allowing Universal Privilege Escalation
Black Hat
Christopher Domas's Black Hat 2015 talk on a long-unnoticed x86 design flaw that lets an attacker reach System Management Mode, a ring below the OS. It explains how the legacy architecture allows universal privilege escalation and persistent, hard-to-detect malware.
Cited in discussions of CPU hidden features, Intel's security failures and SMM malware as a concrete example of a forgotten processor feature being exploited.
6 Hacker News mentions · 2017–2022