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Did I experience a firmware attack? What do I do? (lemmy.today)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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[–] 12 points 2 months ago (2 children)

So the chain of exploits would have to be arbitrary code execution in VLC from playing a malicious FLAC file, chained into a privilege escalation to be able to mess with hardware and finally an attack against the firmware. This chain of exploits seem extremely unlikely. Bundled in some random torrent no less.

Honestly a double hardware failure is probably more likely.

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  • [–] [S] 0 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    I agree that the chain of exploits you're mentioning is unlikely.

    But it's also possible there was no malicious FLAC file and that first my router was attacked, and then I was attacked via AMD PSP which hacked the firmware of SSD drive and this firmware tried to transfer the firmware attack to the second laptop.

    I also plugged in the same ethernet device into both laptops at one point (to try to get the hacked router to work) and it could have been a badusb firmware attack or at attack that came from the router to both laptops.

    Would 2 keyboards fail in the exact same way, with all caps and shift held down, but one is persistent after reboots and one isn't? It doesn't make sense.

    Is this a typical pattern for keyboard controller failure that could be seen in this same way on two laptops at the same time?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    Would 2 keyboards fail in the exact same way, with all caps and shift held down, but one is persistent after reboots and one isn’t? It doesn’t make sense.

    Is this a typical pattern for keyboard controller failure that could be seen in this same way on two laptops at the same time?

    I mean, I think it's much more likely that some hardware failed, than that someone executed a highly sophisticated attack that worked but ended up showing obvious signs of tampering.

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