Begin forwarded message:
From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed@reed.com>
Date: August 16, 2009 8:43:41 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Cc: ip <ip@v2.listbox.com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Apple keyboard firmware hack demonstrated [RISKS] Risks Digest 25.76
Based on the reported facts below, Apple's ability to "patch" this vulnerability in keyboards in the field is near zero. You can yell and scream at Apple all you want, but if this works, they shipped a vulnerable product, and it cannot be field-repaired. (I can think of some ways to ameliorate the impact, but nothing that can make the keyboards that allow such field upgrades "safe").
So, what should we think about this? Actually, we know very little about the vulnerabilities in *any* USB and Bluetooth keyboards that are in the field. Most of them probably have a way to update their firmware that can be exploited to insert a keylogger capability. Since PCs have a much more diverse set of keyboards, perhaps that diversity helps. Do keyboards with the Microsoft label have firmware update capability? It's hard to prove a negative... I suspect they do, and I suspect Microsoft has no way to find out, since most of them are ODM (outsourced design and manufacturing) designs, as are those of most vendors.
Fundamentally, you want to keep "firmware upgrade" operations away from your firmware-using system components, except when you really know that they are being done right. How to do this with a vulnerable operating system that lets users run arbitrary code that runs as part of the kernel or install updates to the kernel? Well, the answer is, you can't. You just can't. It's not a matter of Windows vs. OS X vs. Unix. All of them have such paths, because all of them have "field updateable" operating systems and BIOSes.
So, let's calm down about Apple.
On 08/16/2009 08:07 PM, David Farber wrote:
So, what should we think about this? Actually, we know very little about the vulnerabilities in *any* USB and Bluetooth keyboards that are in the field. Most of them probably have a way to update their firmware that can be exploited to insert a keylogger capability. Since PCs have a much more diverse set of keyboards, perhaps that diversity helps. Do keyboards with the Microsoft label have firmware update capability? It's hard to prove a negative... I suspect they do, and I suspect Microsoft has no way to find out, since most of them are ODM (outsourced design and manufacturing) designs, as are those of most vendors.
Fundamentally, you want to keep "firmware upgrade" operations away from your firmware-using system components, except when you really know that they are being done right. How to do this with a vulnerable operating system that lets users run arbitrary code that runs as part of the kernel or install updates to the kernel? Well, the answer is, you can't. You just can't. It's not a matter of Windows vs. OS X vs. Unix. All of them have such paths, because all of them have "field updateable" operating systems and BIOSes.
So, let's calm down about Apple.
On 08/16/2009 08:07 PM, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 2009 08:17:54 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Apple keyboard firmware hack demonstrated
Charlie Demerjian at Defcon 17, 31 Jul 2009: Apple needs to patch it ASAP
Apple keyboards are vulnerable to a hack that puts keyloggers and malware
directly into the keyboard. This could be a serious problem, and now that
the presentation and code is out there, the bad guys will surely be
exploiting it.
The vulnerability was discovered by K. Chen, and he gave a talk on it at
Blackhat this year. The concept is simple, a modern Apple keyboard has about
8K of flash memory, and 256 bytes of working ram. For the intelligent, this
is more than enough space to have a field day.
K. Chen demonstrated the hack to S|A at Defcon today and it worked quite
well. You start out by running GDB, and set a breakpoint in Apple's
HIDFirmwareUpdaterTool. This tool is meant to update the firmware in human
interface devices, hence the name. The tool is run, a breakpoint set, and
then you simply cut and paste the new code into the firmware image in
memory. That's it.
Nothing is encrypted, decrypted, and the process is simple. You then resume
HIDFirmwareUpdaterTool, and in a few seconds, your keyboard is
compromised. Formatting the OS won't do you any good, the code is in
keyboard flash. There are no batteries to pull, no nothing, the keyboard is
simply compromised. ...
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/07/31/apple-keyboard-firmware-hack-demonstrated/
Reversing and Exploiting an Apple Firmware Update
http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-usa-09/bh-usa-09-archives.html#Chen
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