According to foreign technology media Wired, network security experts from Eclypsium found security vulnerabilities in 271 motherboards sold by Gigabyte and millions of motherboards.
The researchers discovered a mechanism in the firmware of these motherboards that triggers a hidden update procedure. Eclypsium believes that attackers can use this mechanism to install malicious programs without the user’s knowledge, which is difficult to detect and remove later.
Eclypsium experts discovered this flaw, along with an apparent flaw in Gigabyte’s motherboard firmware update mechanism. The associated firmware code can be downloaded without proper authentication, and sometimes over an HTTP connection, making it vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
Eclypsium has worked with Gigabyte to address these issues, and Gigabyte has expressed interest in addressing them, though Eclypsium won’t be able to cure them for years to come.
