SMM is a highly privileged environment, even more so than the ring-0 operating-system kernel. Once running at the ME level, an attacker can potentially tamper with the UEFI/BIOS firmware and/or run code in System Management Mode (SMM). It's most likely a miscreant aiming for the ME will want to use it to turn an ordinary infection or compromise into a long-lasting, hard-to-detect one by drilling down into the ME after gaining code execution on a machine. US, Europe formally blame Russia for data wiper attacks against Ukraine, ViasatĪ typical attack on the ME would work like this: either you get code execution on a victim's machine via something like an email attachment that contains malware and exploit a vulnerable software interface with the engine or you pull off some kind of remote-code execution exploit against the ME.Microsoft and Eclypsium lock horns over Dell SupportAssist flaws on secured-core PCs.If you've got Intel inside, you probably need to get these security patches inside, too.Analysis of leaked Conti files blows lid off ransomware gang.So it would be wise to take a quick break from reading this and make those fixes now if you haven't already.

The leaks show that the gang was fuzzing the ME to find undocumented commands and vulnerabilities. As a side note: although Conti engineers were looking for new ME vulns, the Eclypsium researchers have published a list of known ME flaws (plus related Intel advisories and CVEs) that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation.

Management engine